Ferry Agent is a road transport company that’s focused on the UK market, where it has been operating since its inception 15 years ago. Ferry Agent handles more than 50 per cent of transport services related to total trade between the United Kingdom and Serbia
This is a company that organises transports of all types of goods, from deep frozen food that is subject to a special temperature regime, via excise and perishable goods, to regular commercial products. All goods that are loaded during the course of a week are delivered by the end of the following week at the latest
Apart from freight forwarding services, you provide clients with goods storage services, customs brokerage and customs clearances of goods under short deadlines. Do you succeed in meeting transit and delivery deadlines?
Respecting transit and delivery deadlines are our company’s primary goals. We have at least four guaranteed departures from the UK per week, two during the week and the other two on Saturdays and Sundays, so all goods loaded during the course of a week will be delivered by the end of the next week at the latest. This can be reduced to five to seven working days, which is one of our company’s main postulates. Clients greatly appreciate and respect that, but also the extremely competitive prices we offer. We have achieved this efficiency by leasing part of our warehousing from local distribution company in northeast London, where we store all our groupage shipments. Haulage vehicles come to our warehouse for additional loads or complete loading, arriving empty or with other goods that they picked up along the way. Interstingly, we are the only logistics company that has a direct line from Serbia to the UK, and we have that with two shipments per week.
We are the only logistics company that has a direct line from Serbia to the UK, and we have that with two shipments per week
You are known for fulfilling every contractual request, everything you promise to the client, even if that is to your detriment. Does this set you apart from the competition, along with the motto “the client is always right”?
It certainly does. Every shortcoming that occurs – and that is an integral part of the job – we compensate for to ensure that the client is respected. It has happened that a partner has failed to pick up goods from a location on time, that the groupage lorry couldn’t wait until the next week, so we sent goods by plane at our own expense in order for us to be able respect the client and meet the promised deadline.
When damage occurs or goods are lacking, we compensate the owner of the goods from our own funds within 30 days, then later recoup our recourse payments through insurance. We are one of the few companies, if not the only one, that possesses an ‘all risks’ insurance policy, which means that the owner of the goods is fully insured against all risks, including for damage, at full invoice value, and that’s despite us having mandatory CMR insurance that has very little breadth of coverage.
Are your membership in the British- Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the fact that the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Serbia has classified you in the club of successful small and medium enterprises indicators of the quality of your work?
They certainly are. Membership in these chambers has recommended us to many companies and serves as a stamp of quality for the services that we provide. Our team of ten people generates an annual turnover at the company level amounting to 10 million euros, and that has been the case for the last three years, which is an impressive result. Our company handles more than 50 per cent of transport services related to total trade between the United Kingdom and Serbia, which is certainly a result worthy of praise.