How to: decrease the impact of disruptions on your supply chain

Supply chain disruptions suddenly can cancel or delay the supply of raw materials or semi-finished goods or it can increase and fasten demand all of the sudden. In this context, companies must reactively build safety stocks or add safety buffers to the lead time. This is one of the most common approaches to increasing flexibility in the face of uncertainty in supply and demand. It also increases responsiveness and reduces the risk of inventory shortages..

The current global developments are making any form of transportation more difficult. With the COVID-19 crisis and the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, you want to be agile and ready for all kinds of different market disruptions. But where do you start? As a manufacturer (on a smaller scale) it can be costly to build a warehouse to store your goods. Instead, you can focus on your specialties and outsource your logistics to a specialized party. A partnership with an experienced logistics provider, which offers shared warehouse capabilities, has numerous advantages such as:

• The expertise is already there;
• The right permits, for example for the storage of chemicals, are in place;
• Shorter implementation times;
• Taking care of the entire logistical process, including Value Added Services (VAS), Customs and arranging transportation;
• Value Added Logistics (VAL)
• Strategic locations;
• A state of the art Warehouse Management System.

This is probably not a surprise for you, but especially as a producer of chemicals, the above topics are essential to consider. Setting up a site is very time and money consuming. Implementing a Warehouse Management System or applying for hazardous permits can be very labor intensive. Especially when storing dangerous goods, your warehouse should be optimized for the storage of this cargo and take into account the various safety and health measures.

Broekman Logistics has several locations where we can help you with these kinds of concerns. Taking into account the current disruptions in the supply chain, we offer various specialized services at all of our locations. We are located in the two top chemical hubs of Europe, the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. In addition, our location in Venlo is well situated in the domestic hub for distribution to the rest of Europe.

Let’s take a deep-dive into our location in the port of Rotterdam, Europoort. In Rotterdam Europoort we have a 40,000m² warehouse fully specialized in the storage of your dangerous/hazardous goods.  This storage facility is strategically located to the highways that connect us to the rest of Europe. There is also a rail connection to the Maasvlakte container terminals. The different classes of goods that we can store at this location are:  3, 4.1 (excl. PG I). 4.2 (excluding PG I and temperature controlled), 5.1, 6, 8,9.

Storing your goods in a shared company warehouse, such as our location in Rotterdam Europoort, has countless advantages. Broekman Logistics can offer a plug-and-play solution to all off your supply chain problems. Even with sudden supply chain shifts, we offer flexibility within our company processes to adapt to your specific needs. Regardless of the size of your goods and the volumes you use in your operations, the shared warehouse concept will always give you the benefits of high volumes.