Franco Azzopardi: “Can the government incentivise industry to carry cargo at night, thereby reducing heavy vehicles during the day?”

“I am in the business of logistics – we carry cargo into and out of Malta,” says Franco Azzopardi.

“The problem our island has is that we have a wide imbalance between the volume of cargo we import for consumption or as raw material, and that which we export. This imbalance creates diseconomies because carriers of cargo like ourselves have part of their round-trips done empty, and as a consequence, the cost of that empty space transported is suffered locally, partly by us, the carriers, and partly by the client.”

He says the concept of hubbing is pretty much “a no-brainer” in terms of generating more exports to correct this imbalance and that local industry has already been hubbing – and Express Trailers have been part of it – for several years.

He does, however, believe that the concept of hubbing – optimising the routes of the journey of cargo via a central station – in this case Malta, has potential for growth.

Logistics and the environment are not best of friends and we have to decide on a balance

“Since Malta has a natural strategic location being in the middle of the Mediterranean and just a few miles away from the trade routes of shipping lines carrying cargo from the Far East to the West, including Europe, and since Malta has invested in an efficient Freeport that can handle the volumes, then we can refine and maximise our potential by capturing more west-bound cargo at our free-trade zone, warehouse it, pick-and-pack it, change the modality of transport to road trailers, and then either fly it or ship it out of Malta to its destination in Europe,” he says.

Alternatively, he explains, “we can also ship south-bound cargo to North Africa via the Freeport in containers”, which will increase economic value to Malta by way of correction of the import-export imbalance and hence creating economies of scale in favour of our consumer and manufacturer, apart from the value from further investment and employment.

Asked whether Express Trailers is keen to be part of this hubbing concept, he answers “of course!”

He adds: “We have painted the roads in orange, which is our flagship colour, with a strong message ‘Delivering Trust’. We look forward to sharing our expertise further with the business community, and the consumer, towards a positive contribution to the economy and well-being through an efficient movement of their goods.”

He warns, however, that the cargo terminals at the airport and at Corradino could stifle the extent of the growth possible through international hubbing. “Logistics and the environment are not best of friends and we have to decide on a balance and equating the differences. More cargo from the Freeport means more trailers on the road to the warehouse,” he says.

He adds: “Warehouses need space. Industry standards suggest that inventories in warehouses need to be ‘turned around’ between five and eight times, meaning that the volume that the warehouse can take needs to be imported eight times from the Freeport and exported eight times from the cargo terminals. The 400,000 cubic metres of new warehousing space being offered at Ħal Far would probably translate to 1.6 million cubic metres carried from the Freeport to the warehouse annually and another 1.6 million cubic metres out of the warehouse via the cargo terminals.”

He says he is not so sure the last leg out of the terminals is possible with the current infrastructure at Corradino as this would mean a further 400 trailers to be exported weekly. If all the cargo had to be flown out of Malta, that would require around 100 flights a day.

Express Trailers gleaming orange colour stands out on Malta’s roads.

“The sweet spot would probably lie somewhere between the air and sea modes of transport to mainland Europe. I am not mentioning the south-bound cargo as that does not contribute to the imbalance we have on the road on our European trips.”

Another serious limitation is the lack of trailer parks on the island and he says there is a serious problem where to park trailers safely off the public roads.

“Now multiply that by the number of the other operators. Space is an issue.”

He says Express Trailers strongly believe in ethical and correct business towards the 3Ps – profits, people and the planet.

“We invest yearly in our fleet, adding only environmental friendly tractor units and high-end pharma-certified reefer trailers. Our gleaming orange colour presence is quite dominant on our roads, shining the pride of our drivers who wash their units every day, some with the passion normally shown by owners not operators. We hope that somehow the commuter sees us as a lesser nuisance. However, this can only be possible by investing also in our people, training them continuously in correct behaviour and mannerism, and to love the company, its fleet and its customers.

“To my mind, our operators are the ambassadors and flag bearers of the company, and I feel obliged to treat them so. I personally dedicate my time talking and staying close to the people wherever they are. People are complex and need even more attention than maintaining the modern, sophisticated tractor units which are complex.

“This year we should also go live with a major investment in the company’s logistics core IT system. We will miss the bespoke system we have been building with our IT partner over the past 30 years. But it is time to move with times into newer technologies.”

He points out that the company has equipment worth €7 million on the road, a headcount of 220, top lines shy of €30 million and it contributes €3 million to the government through corporate tax, VAT and FSS contributions and collections. He says: “The future is looking bright for Express Trailers”.

Mr Azzopardi says that over the past decades, Malta has invested in the pharma industry and overall this has been a great success.

“We have managed to attract global leaders in the field. Pharma is a highly regulated industry with rigorous quality standards and full traceability of origin of medicines, warehousing and carriage till their final destination. Express Trailers was the first local logistics company to invest in fully-dedicated pharma warehouses and this helped us build a solid reputation in the servicing of the pharmaceutical industry.

Our mindset is to be the partner of choice for quality assurance

“We also invest a lot in pharma-certified reefer trailer units for our fleet additions. Our reasoned decision to do so is based on the premise that our Maltese pharma industry requires strong and fully-compliant logistics partners to complete their supply chain. Without this, with the ever-increasing regulatory requirements, pharma companies that have invested in Malta will have a broken link in the chain. Medicines that are imported, manufactured, and warehoused in Malta under our sophisticated regime need to do so under rigorous standards, and they also need to be carried under these same rigorous standards of quality and traceability. At Express Trailers, our mindset is to be the partner of choice for quality assurance.”

He says that Express Trailers are also leaders in 3PL, ‘third party logistics’. This concept is basically being the co-sourced partner of importers, exporters, wholesalers and also retailers in their inventory management.

“They focus on their business, their purchasing and selling acumen, and we take care of all the logistic challenges of carriage and warehouse management. The inherent advantage of our ‘managed warehousing’ concept is the full visibility we give our clients, of their inventories sitting in our warehouses on a real-time basis.”

Mr Azzopardi points out that the problem of traffic during rush hours needs to be addressed. “This is disrupting the quality of life of people and also disturbing the supply chain of the carriage of goods. Our trips are taking longer, posing difficulties in planning routes. I believe that with the right mix of consultations, and a propensity to invest, the government can come up with solutions.”

He personally believes that the answer is not a matter of widening roads but of unblocking junctions by building flyovers or even going underground.

“I think we need to provide commuters with better alternatives to using their own cars. Should we start to seriously invest in an underground metro network? Can the government incentivise industry to carry cargo at night thereby reducing heavy vehicles during the day?

“Why is waste management not done at night? Should schools start later in the morning thus stretching thin the rush hour? The government could intervene through the extension of ‘family-friendly’ measures giving industry an incentive to allow flexi-time to parent employees. Hard-nosed decisions pointed at the festering problem need to be taken by the government. We need to embrace change.”

He adds: “Why not remove registration tax on cars and introduce a vignette similar to what Switzerland or Austria have, penalising the bigger cars in rush hours and incentivising smaller cars? One can avoid the vignette by not being on the road during established rush hours. Parking on public roads could also be at a cost in densely populated areas and based on the size of the vehicle. These are already tried and tested solutions in densely populated cities and are based on push-pull forces, pay-as-you-use, incentivise-disincentivise strategies. I am not inventing anything new. From where I sit, these to me are just logical logistics management solutions.”