ROGTEC Interviews Andrew Vincenti, Branch Director Kuehne + Nagel Sakhalin
Please describe your position and role within the company
I am the Branch Director of Kuehne + Nagel Sakhalin and as such am ultimately responsible for the whole office incl. setups in Nogliki, Korsakov and Vladivostok. It’s a position I have held now for some 11 years and one that I find extremely fulfilling and challenging at the same time.
Kuehne+Nagel have been working in the Russia now for a long period of time, tell us about your regional growth and how do you see business in Russia and at Sakhalin in particular for Kuehne+Nagel in the coming years?
Kuehne + Nagel was established in Sakhalin in 2002. All these years we have been steadily growing and expanding the business, building our loyal customer base, augmenting our potential. This has led to Kuehne + Nagel Sakhalin nowadays being well known locally for door-to-doorsolutions of outstanding quality, excellent HSE systems and culture in place with the record of no fatalities or life-threatening incidents since the office establishment in 2002, and what is equally important, is our customer focus with individual solutions to individual issues as well as leading-edge communication and information systems allowing our clients to be in the picture 24/7.
Therefore, having assessed Kuehne + Nagel’s current position, we believe we are now ready for further expansion having identified the following growth strategies to focus on:
Market penetration: we intend to increase our market share in existing markets with our loyal clients by providing improved logistics solutions, by increasing the perceived value of services we offer relative to our competitors as well as by adding on new products such as customs broker services under our own licence and where we have current experience working for SEIC and other customers.
Market development: we intend to increase our customer base by providing our services to new clients in Sakhalin as well as in Vladivostok, where we recently opened an office this year, Magadan and other promising Far-East regions of Russia.
With a successful combination of marketing and product strategies, in the coming years we expect to expand our customer base, gain new loyal satisfied customers, achieve acceleration and success of the market penetration of our existing services, and eventually become the Contractor-of-Choice for the Oil & Gas industry and other high value industries.
What are the key differences between your logistics services and the other providers?
I believe it comes down to an approach – how do you treat your customers. All of us in Kuehne + Nagel Sakhalin and the other KN offices are, as our company Mission Statement clearly puts it:
“Focused on our customers’ needs we provide integrated logistics solutions of outstanding quality and operational excellence – we are the extension of your business.”
And it is that focus on our customers’ needs always at the forefront that propels us to offer logistics services and solutions tailored to what our clients actually require – not, what all too often happens, is what we think they want.
Let me give a couple of examples. Many of our services have evolved due to our clients’ requirements and requests, e.g. we now offer:
– Expediting, vendor management and documentation control
– SAP services including transfers within the clients’ systems
– A comprehensive material master customs database that allows buyers to check what restrictions, certificates etc. apply BEFORE ordering any equipment
– A web-based tracking tool from PO / line item placement to final delivery – built to suit the clients’ requirements
These are just a few of the services that we have developed because of our clients’ requiring solutions. And it is this flexibility and individual approach to our customers’ needs that I firmly believe is a key difference between us and our competitors.
What services does Kuehne+Nagel provide in Russia?
Let me first look out some of services including the ones that I have briefly touched upon in the last question and then look at Russia as a whole.
In Sakhalin, we are able to offer our customers comprehensive supply chain management solutions from cargo origin to our clients’ end users on the island. We have three offices on Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Nogliki and Korsakov) plus this year opened a branch office on the mainland in Vladivostok.
The services we can offer to our clients include, but are not limited to:
1) HSE
a) Maintaining our zero fatalities and zero life-threatening incident record since the opening of our office in 2002
b) Full comprehensive HSE documentation covering all aspects of SSHE (Safety, Security, Health and Environment)
c) Ensuring that both clients’ and K+N’s policies and procedures are fully implemented by both K+N employees and contractors
d) Regular training of both K+N employees and contractors in all aspects of SSHE
e) Regular tool-box trainings
f) Developing and implementing comprehensive HSE plans for major clients at the start of the contract
g) Separate JMP and JSA analysis for road and rail transportation and lifting jobs where required; plus individual HSE plans for all out of gauge/heavy/expensive cargoes
2) Expediting
Our Expediting Department’s experience covers the following services:
a) Expediting and gathering of cargo details
b) Checking of vendors’ paperwork
c) Daily contact and following up of all urgent purchase orders
d) Regular contact and follow up of other orders
e) Issuing regular various reports:
f) Urgent order or rush report
ii) Vendors‘ report
iii) Buyers‘ report
iv) Purchase Orders readiness date report
v) Collected materials masters report
vi) Non-collected materials masters report
3) Customs Brokerage / pre-shipping
Our Customs Brokerage Department’s experience covers the following pre-shipping services:
A comprehensive customs database which allows us to pre-check the goods and give green or red light covering:
i) Materials allowed to be imported into Russia
ii) Materials for which licences and / or certificates are required
iii) Materials which are prohibited to be imported into Russia
iv) Materials which must be purchased from within Russia
For one of our major Oil & Gas clients we have developed an on-line material master database, which allows the relevant buyers to check what restrictions, certificates etc. apply BEFORE ordering any equipment. To date, the database holds over 222,000 individual material master numbers.
4) International Transportation
Our Ocean and Air Freight Department’s experience covers the following services in conjunction with our own experienced K+N overseas offices:
a) Cargo collection to consolidation warehouse
b) 100% cargo material receipt check (appearance and quantity); bar-coding; re-packing if required
c) Consolidation or urgent despatch to airport; preparation of shipping documents; storage of goods till shipped; export customs clearance of goods
d) Ocean freight of all kinds of materials including DG cargoes
e) Air freight of all kinds of goods including DG cargoes
f) Experience in the shipping of RA materials within Russia
g) Rail freight to Sakhalin
5) Customs Brokerage / on-island
Our Customs Brokerage Department’s experience covers the following services with our own customs brokerage licence:
a) PSA importation
b) Non PSA importation
c) Temporary importation
d) Re export of cargoes
e) Surplus disposal – we have contract with major oil company on the island covering this requirement
f) Support in customs clearance and managing of clients’ own customs brokers
g) Maintaining customs database covering PSA (import and export); copies of all CCDs; non-PSA if applicable; tracking of customs duties paid.
6) On-Island Logistics
Our On-Island Department’s experience covers the following services:
A) On-island transportation
a) Maintaining our zero fatalities and zero life-threatening incident record since the opening of our office in 2002
b) Trucking to all parts of the island (both on consolidation and rush basis covering numerous on-island deliveries; general cargoes; heavy and out-of-gauge shipments; dangerous cargoes
c) Rail transportation up north of the island with our own Nogliki office to supervise the unloading at Nogliki and further road transportation
d) Each truck we utilize has an installed IVMS system and each driver has taken Defensive Driving Courses.
B) Warehouse management
a) Bonded warehouses in both Korsakov port and Yuzhno airport
b) In house personnel in the STA bonded warehouse
c) Consolidation and load-out from warehouse to any location on the island
d) 100% materials check and control over inbound / outbound material for both air and sea
e) Document control of both STA and SAT bonded warehouses
f) Our sub-contracted Transit Warehouse where our major oil client vendors deliver their DDP materials on which we perform 100% material check and control and then consolidate with imported cargo to truck out to the various sites of this client
h) Short-term / long-term storage as per clients‘ requirements
7) SAP experience
Our SAP Department’s experience covers the following services:
a) Identifying end-user / site destination – location
b) Posting of good receipts from vendors in SAP
c) Transfer of materials from one storage location to another to track material status (received etc.)
d) Transfer of materials from bonded warehouse to client’s storage location (SL) / end user destination
e) Monitoring of the above (life-cycles) for KPI reports
f) Entering invoices for payment into SAP
8) Web-based tracking from PO / line item placement to final delivery; other reports as required including O S&D; KPIs; and others as per clients’ requirements
9) Extensive experience working with various governmental departments:
a) Environmental department for transportation of chemicals and other hazardous cargoes
b) Traffic and road police for oversized loads
c) Customs, airport and seaport authorities
d) Railway authorities
Russia as a whole:
Kuehne + Nagel in Russia was founded in 1992, with Head Office in Moscow. Now it has more than 800 employees in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Murmansk, Krasnodar, Sochi, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Vladivostok, Nogliki, Korsakov and Murmansk. The company holds ISO 9001 and Cargo 2000 Phase II licenses, has AIB 2 warehouses and 3 customs brokerage licenses (a fully-fledged member of National Association of Customs Brokers).
Kuehne + Nagel provides integrated freight forwarding services for such industries as Oil & Gas, automotive, aerospace, high tech, FMCG, projects, retail etc. Services include:
Sea freight:
(Door-to-door services for FCL and LCL shipments, delivery to all ports of Russia, all cargo type, handling of documentation procedures, professional loading /unloading operations, all types of containers, Pre-/on-carriage by road or/and rail, Short Sea Traffic);
Air freight:
(Import /Export/Domestic delivery, offices in airports (SVO/DME/LED), Door-to-Door delivery, detailed SOP and advanced track & trace system, direct IATA, possibility to consolidate shipments for one client, charters, «triangle biz», combined Sea+Air operations, customs brokerage offices in airports, Transit–bonded delivery to final destination by truck and pax flight);
Road logistics:
(Import: FTL, LTL, groupage from EU, CIS-countries and neighboring states to Russia; Export: FTL from Russia to EU, CIS-countries and neighboring state; small cargoes deliveries / groupage, liquid cargo transportation, intermodal solutions);
Rail logistics:
(Foreign trade and transit goods from Europe and between countries of the regions in transit through the territory of the CIS; wagon and container shipments for all directions, CIS domestic rail transports of conventional and containerized cargo, transportation of liquid chemicals in 20‘ tank-containers);
Brokerage services:
Customs clearance (PSA & non-PSA); temporary importation and re-exportation of cargo; Green Light service plus MM Database of over 234,200 individual MMs);
Contract Logistics services:
(> 130 000 square meters of warehousing space in mainland; Sakhalin warehousing services include transit logistics; distribution; short and long-term storage in both Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Korsakov).
Integrated Logistics services:
Kuehne + Nagel Russia has become the first one at the Russian market to offer a 4PL solution to the customer. The demand for 4PL service is constantly growing and is not limited to one market segment. Nowadays Kuehne + Nagel customers for whom 4PL service is done belong to FMCG, High Tech, Fairs&Events areas.
Industrial Projects:
Kuehne + Nagel provides project logistics services for all industry sectors involving over 240 experts in 40 countries worldwide. In Russia project logistics experts operate more than 12 years and develop logistics concepts for cargo which usually requires special handling, chartering of vessels and heavy-lift services by sea, air, road or rail.
Fairs&Exhibitions:
Growing customer demand at the fairs & exhibitions market in Russia, especially at Moscow being one of the booming international exhibition centers has become the reasons to establish a dedicated set-up for fairs & exhibitions logistics services locally. Kuehne + Nagel can provide service on handling international consignments for the exhibitions held in Moscow major fairgrounds and it is also planned to set up our own structure based on in Crocus Expo exhibitions center.
Sport events:
Logistics for this specific segment is also one of the focus for Kuehne + Nagel in Russia. Being largely presented in the South region of Russia with dedicated representations in Sochi, Krasnodar, Kuehne + Nagel can provide a full range of logistics and customs services for the upcoming Olympic games and other sport events planned in the country in the next years.
What is your most recent success story in Russia?
Difficult to pick just one and there are some of them which we cannot publish due to customer demands! But I am proud of two achievements, each different but which I believe sum up why Kuehne + Nagel is different from the other logistics providers.
Since opening the office in 2002 we have had zero fatalities and zero life-threatening incidents. That is a success story I believe and one which I am very proud of and which is a tribute to all the managers, employees and contractors who work for Kuehne + Nagel Sakhalin; and a special tribute here, if I may, to our HSE Manager, Pavel Bazanov.
The second one-
Kuehne + Nagel has successfully addressed the demand for logistics solutions in the segment and has significantly grown its portfolio of fashion customers in Russia in the last four years. Benetton is one of the customers profiting from Kuehne + Nagel service. Kuehne + Nagel has established the full supply chain for this company to Russia.
I think these two successes illustrate the diversity and strength of Kuehne + Nagel in Russia.
What is your favorite part of the country?
Sakhalin, of course! I really like this place and seen it grow over the years, yet retain its innate inimitable friendliness and diversity. It has, through my colleagues and friends become my second home.
How do you see the Russian O&G market developing in the next few years?
I see the Russian O&G market expanding with more opportunities for companies like ourselves. At the same time it will become more challenging as clients are demanding more services and competition from other logistics providers becomes stronger. And in this regard I see not primarily international providers but rather Russian ones who are becoming stronger and bolder in their outlook and horizons. What this means for us is that we have to be 100% concentrated on our clients’ needs, wishes and requirements; continuously train and upgrade our staff; and maintain total commitment and focus on HSE.