“…the inquiries seemed to follow the spread of the virus”

Founded in 1947, AMB Ecosteryl initially manufactured special machinery for the extraction industries. With the decline of the mining industry in the past years, the company smoothly transitioned into the development of new equipment and machinery to be used for recycling, recovery and decontamination of medical waste. AMB Ecosteryl now designs and manufactures equipment that provides a safe and environmentally friendly solution to medium and large hospitals as well as service providers for the treatment of biomedical waste. The company has nearly 20 years of experience in the commercial treatment of medical waste without burning. Its products are in active service in over 60 countries. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the need for specific machinery like that produced by AMB Ecosteryl further increased all over the globe.

In this context, cargo-partner is happy to work with AMB Ecosteryl since 2016, providing the company with international sea, air and road transports. Proactive communication and quick response times are equally important as expertise in handling oversized machines and sensitive spare parts. cargo-partner reliably organizes the transport of the machines, with each machine filling two 40’ open top high cube containers. The cargo-partner team in Antwerp ensures the professional handling, packaging and transport of the sophisticated waste treatment machines. But there is another aspect that is of crucial significance for the successful collaboration: Precise timing and close communication are essential, since each machine must be installed by the company’s own technicians according to a very strict schedule. In addition, cargo-partner supports AMB Ecosteryl with urgent airfreight transports of spare parts as well as pre- and on-carriage by truck.

We talked to Olivier Dufrasne, President of AMB Ecosteryl, about the challenges of transporting oversized machines, the characteristics of a strong and reliable partnership and the importance of transport transparency for on-point delivery times.

What does your company expect from its transport service provider? What are the values that mark a good cooperation?

Olivier Dufrasne: Timely and reliable delivery of our orders is the most important requirement. The right shipment at the right time and in accordance with our schedules. Good cooperation is marked by mutual respect and a strong sense of responsibility.

The outbreak of the coronavirus has significantly impacted global trade and supply chains. Do you already see an increase in orders related to COVID-19, and if so, how do you deal with this sudden increase in demand?

Definitely. We have been receiving more inquiries from all over the world – they almost seemed to follow the spread of the virus. To deal with this increased demand, we want to grow our company. We have hired four new employees in the past four months.

Your devices were previously shipped in high cube open top containers. How do you see the current trend of shipping companies taking capacities off the market with so-called “slow steaming”, causing longer transit times between Europe and Asia? Have these developments made rail transports to Asia via the New Silk Road a more attractive alternative?

That’s correct, we have always used high cube open top containers. We do want to keep shipping our goods in high cube containers, but the correct timing is also very important. With this in mind, the New Silk Road might indeed be an attractive alternative for us.

Tracking, transparency and visibility along the entire supply chain are very important in transport and logistics. Does this also apply to your field of business, and what does AMB Ecosteryl expect from its logistics partner in this regard?

We need to be able to track the status of our shipments. On the other hand, we work according to a very strict schedule. Our workers are on site, waiting for the machine to arrive so that they can install it. Therefore, the most important thing is that the exact delivery times are adhered to.

AMB Ecosteryl is a renowned company with an outstanding reputation in its field. cargo-partner is known as a medium-sized logistics enterprise with global coverage. How does collaboration with cargo-partner differ from the “big players” in the transport industry?

It’s always a question of the person you are working with. With cargo-partner, we know we are working with someone who understands our needs.

Thank you for the interview!

A small selection of AMB Ecosteryl’s product range