Transcoop09 is a fairly unique co-operation. How did it come about?
Josef Perisa: It started back in 2009 with the classic matter of exchange of FTL and LTL between the founding members. From these beginnings, over the years we have seen the development of a wide range of value-added services, such as insurance brokerage, consulting, training, joint purchasing and workshop services. We are currently setting up a platform for exchange of FTL and LTL, telematics and fleet management. The matter of exchange of FTL and LTL is actually now just the smallest common denominator in the collaboration between our members in 18 European countries. Our transport portfolio ranges from one kilo to 150 tonnes. But Transcoop09 AG doesn’t do any transport itself – that is, and will remain, the core competency of our members.
How do you control a co-operation of independently operating firms?
Josef Perisa: Unlike many cargo exchanges with a commercial background, Transcoop09 was founded by its members and has developed as a kind of self-made network. This means that we are completely independent and can work free of economic interests. We always remain on a level playing field between members and with the forwarding industry. In addition to that, partnership- based collaboration with suppliers is an important aspect. Krone has been by our side from the beginning, and we are constantly developing our partnership.
Transcoop09 has been a stock corporation with 23 shareholders from the collective since 2015. As the chairman and one of six employees, I manage operative business.
Josef Perisa: It started back in 2009 with the classic matter of exchange of FTL and LTL between the founding members. From these beginnings, over the years we have seen the development of a wide range of value-added services, such as insurance brokerage, consulting, training, joint purchasing and workshop services. We are currently setting up a platform for exchange of FTL and LTL, telematics and fleet management. The matter of exchange of FTL and LTL is actually now just the smallest common denominator in the collaboration between our members in 18 European countries. Our transport portfolio ranges from one kilo to 150 tonnes. But Transcoop09 AG doesn’t do any transport itself – that is, and will remain, the core competency of our members.
How do you control a co-operation of independently operating firms?
Josef Perisa: Unlike many cargo exchanges with a commercial background, Transcoop09 was founded by its members and has developed as a kind of self-made network. This means that we are completely independent and can work free of economic interests. We always remain on a level playing field between members and with the forwarding industry. In addition to that, partnership- based collaboration with suppliers is an important aspect. Krone has been by our side from the beginning, and we are constantly developing our partnership.
Transcoop09 has been a stock corporation with 23 shareholders from the collective since 2015. As the chairman and one of six employees, I manage operative business.
How do the corporate goals differ from those of a traditionally managed co-operation?
Josef Perisa: As mentioned before, traditional exchange of FTL and LTL is our everyday bread and butter. On top of that, we have a variety of services and ideas. Our core aim is to optimise the work of each individual member. It’s not about quantity, but quality. One of the main tasks is to create platforms that members can use to contact and cooperate with one another. We are lucky in that our German members work so well with their foreign colleagues that they never get in each other’s way when it comes to the core business of goods transport.
How do you achieve this harmony among individual companies?
Josef Perisa: The positive collaboration between our members is down to our code of conduct, which – like the Hanseatic merchant’s honour – is based on the four principles of honesty, responsibility, reliability and loyalty. We always stay in personal contact and approach one another. For us, people are the focus! The long-standing membership of Transcoop09 members is further proof of the quality of our collaboration. For example, the group decides jointly on the acceptance of new members. Large group forwarders are never accepted – we always work with owner-run companies. We all act according to the same principle: the customer is king – but so is the haulier! Unlike the major forwarding groups, our members are “transport providers with a face”.
“The world of transport is going to change drastically. Autonomous driving is coming!”
Josef Perisa
Do you still have future goals in mind after nine years of the co-operation?
Josef Perisa: Of course, we have plenty! Digitisation in the majority of our fields of business is at the top of the priority list. The introduction of our digital platform will make it possible to react more quickly on the market and work more efficiently. We not only take care of all manner of freight brokerage, but also operate active fleet management: where can a lorry be serviced the fastest, where can tyres be changed under our negotiated purchasing terms, where is the nearest petrol station or car park? All handshakes can be done over the platform – there is no longer any need to reach for the phone. We use our own telematics solution, which is compatible with all standard manufacturer systems. We are already thinking about new technology, such as drones for piece good delivery, autonomous vehicles and driverless transport. Nevertheless, we have real lorries, real customers, real drivers and of course, the corresponding problems. And even today, not everything can be digitised. If you have a customer on the phone with a problem, everything is back to being completely analogue!
And the biggest problem in the transport business at present is the shortage of drivers…
Josef Perisa: The shortfall in qualified drivers is, of course, affecting our members too. At the end of the day, if you hire a good driver, you have taken him away from somewhere else.
“There is no business that goes as fast as logistics.”
Josef Perisa
Money alone is not enough to acquire a new generation of drivers. Working as a driver is no longer attractive enough; we need to change that. Once again it is about valuing people – from business owners through to drivers. We search for drivers and place them with our partner firms. We have to develop systems that move away from the traditional situation of “own drivers, own vehicles”. There are no blanket solutions; individual solutions are needed for individual members.
Would it not make sense for Transcoop09 to have its own fleet of vehicles?
Josef Perisa: We already have our own pool of trailers with various vehicles, which we broker and rent to our members in the event of peaks in demand or seasonal fluctuations. We would like to expand the idea to motor vehicles, but the variety in our members’ transport tasks makes it difficult. All in all, our members run around 5,000 vehicles. Achieving technical standardisation is virtually impossible here.
TRANSCOOP09 AG
Together with twelve other colleagues, Josef Perisa founded Transcoop09 in 2009, with the vision of establishing a cooperation between hauliers and forwarders. The first objective was to broker the exchange of FTL and LTL. From these beginnings, Transcoop09 has established itself as an insurance broker and operator of a logistics firm with training, consulting and joint purchase of accessories and spare parts, brokerage of workshop services and its own telematics solution. In addition, it operates a joint trailer pool, as well as offering numerous other business-to-business services, such as driver acquisition and corporate consulting.
The latest product to arrive at Transcoop09, which became a stock corporation in 2015, is a digital marketplace, on which traditional services such as a load exchange, vehicle scheduling and fleet management are operated, using a software platform developed especially for Transcoop09 members. Transcoop09 AG, based in Ulm, Swabia, currently has 60 mediumsized hauliers from 18 European countries among its members.
The latest product to arrive at Transcoop09, which became a stock corporation in 2015, is a digital marketplace, on which traditional services such as a load exchange, vehicle scheduling and fleet management are operated, using a software platform developed especially for Transcoop09 members. Transcoop09 AG, based in Ulm, Swabia, currently has 60 mediumsized hauliers from 18 European countries among its members.
You offer an all-in service for your customers, the Transcoop09 members…
Josef Perisa: We don’t just think about hardware and trade, we also consider how we can improve the collaboration between our members. It is corporate consultancy in the classical sense, which we also offer to shippers as our business partners. We have a whole range of our own events – from training, to consulting, to forwarders’ meetings, whereby we offer a sort of “marriage market”, and the opportunity to share information. Throughout all of this we are, of course, keeping an eye on the new EU legislation: we work with our own data protection officer to pass on the necessary knowledge to our members. In addition, as well as data, we have to transport people into the new, digitised world of transport. Our focus will always be the same: constantly looking for solutions to make working better and easier with people always being the absolute priority!
Photos: Günther Bayerl, Matthias Rathmann, Günther Bayerl
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