for WWL as it marks our 10th anniver-sary. What started with the Wallenius and Wilhelmsen families discussing the creation of a global leader in RoRo shipping has resulted in a global logistics player with a unique factory–to-dealer strategy. Since 1999, as our customers have grown more global and required comprehensive solu-tions, we have moved in step with their changing needs from being a “traditional” shipping company to a global logistics partner.

In many ways we have changed people’s image of a “traditional” shipping company by moving from a port-to-port mindset to a factory-to-dealer business philosophy. Over the last decade we have acquired in-depth knowledge about all aspects of the supply chain, using our experience from across the globe to increase efficiency and create complete global supply chain solutions. But we could not have managed this alone. Much of our success is thanks to our partnerships with progressive and demand-ing customers who have helped us develop over the years.

a reputation as an environmental forerun-ner during the past ten years. We have a clear responsibility for reducing the environmental impact of our operations around the world and, as you can read in this issue, we work hard to do so. The tough times will not lessen our focus, as environmental awareness is integrated into our way of working. Highly relevant right now is the way we are working closely with several customers to create more efficient and, hence, greener outbound supply chains.

We’re all facing unprecedented market challenges today. How-ever, I am confident that, together with our customers, we can come out of this downturn even stronger than before. At WWL, we are using this time as an opportunity to develop innovative solutions to support your need for increased efficiency. We are also working hard on continuously improving our own operations.

I look forward to another decade of WWL pioneering the global shipping and logistics industry together with you!

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he contract gives BMW Australia a ‘one-stop shop’ solution for its vehicle logistics, with door-to-door delivery starting at eight fac-tory gates in Europe and the US and ending at

showrooms in Australia and New Zealand. Under the contract WWL takes full responsibility for

the vehicle supply chain, including management of any logistics sub-contractors, while BMW has a single point of contact.

But there are other benefits too, including reduced lead times and a full visibility tracking system. This allows staff at BMW and in their dealerships to monitor the movement of the cars on order across the logistics chain by logging in to WWL management reporting systems.

The initial contract between BMW and WWL was signed back in 2004 and helped create the concept of a lead logistics supplier (LLP); indeed this was one of the first agreements for integrated logistics in the industry.

“In 2004, BMW and WWL were exploring new ground by signing an LLP contract,” explains Brigitte Corsing, WWL Contract Manager in Europe.

“Starting with the BMW contract we took the oppor-tunity to provide not only ocean services but to grow into a fully-competent and reliable logistics supplier to meet the needs of today’s market.”

From the outset, BMW’s primary needs were to re-duce the overall process cost in transporting cars from

global manufacturing plants to their dealerships while maintaining full visibility across the supply chain.

Although the company does have the in-house expertise to handle door-

to-door logistics activity, they wanted to free up resourc-es that were busy supervising the complex processes. By outsourcing to a trusted supplier, BMW Australia were able to concentrate on their primary activity of selling cars and best servicing their new and existing customers.

Shipping a car from one continent to another can involve many parties, from road transport to dockside storage and the ocean passage itself. Typically freight forwarders, stevedores, shipping brokers, storage companies and so on are all involved in the process - all working on separate contracts.

So, in devising a seamless logistics solution, WWL

needed to demonstrate that a one-stop, supply chain management strategy was not only feasible but also practical. The global reach of WWL’s corporate account management team, was the key to creating a well func-tioning solution.

This was supplemented with help and support from WWL’s specialists in the company’s five product areas – ocean services, terminal management, inland distribution, technical services and supply chain management.

“By choosing the most suitable supply chain and vessel for each single vehicle on the different routes to Oceania, we can optimise the lead time for the shipment from factory to dealership,” explains Brigitte Corsing.

“Lead times have been reduced by 10% to 15% while the total transparency of the system offers increased control over lower inventory levels. Key performance indicators are reported frequently to the customer, enabling them to monitor and keep complete control over the process.”

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But the success of the contract can be attributed to more than just a flexible, creative and experienced team, according to Nigel Yarnton, WWL Contract Manager, Australia.

“The skill of our global network is a fantastic selling point because it is such a great benefit to our custom-ers,” he says. “But, I think, just as important is the aligned thinking across the regions; the company philosophy, if you like. The attitude in WWL to achieve the right solution for our clients is as important as the physical processes.

for this relationship is for WWL to communicate and liaise directly to the dealership level. Dealer satisfaction is such a high internal metric for BMW that there has to be a high level of trust and confidence in how WWL operates – and how it acts on behalf of BMW Australia.

“We view the renewal of this contract as not just a sign of achieving BMW’s initial priorities, but also be-ing able to achieve them on an ongoing basis.”

The relationship between the two companies has

developed strongly over the five years of the initial contract to take in extra activity.

Last year WWL stepped in to help BMW with dealer training by taking stock controllers on dockside and Vehicle Processing Centre (VPC) tours to help them understand the processes involved in vehicle shipment.

With this extra knowledge, and the transparency of reporting, dealers can now better manage end-custom-er expectations by providing realistic time frames for vehicle delivery.

Christian Fuss, Head of Supply Chain Manage-ment, WWL Europe, says: “We are delighted about the renewal of the contract which confirms we are offering the service and producing the savings that are so criti-cal in today’s market environment.

“The supply chain solution for BMW is delivering an integrated distribution solution and is a great example of WWL’s factory to dealer concept. Outsourcing logis-tic activity in this way can allow customers to reduce their in-house fixed costs and switch to a variable cost basis – which is especially important when meeting the challenges of rapidly changing global demand.” ■

want to be clear on what responsible leadership really is,” IMD President Dr. John R. Wells says at the very start of an interview. “I sometimes get frustrated by many who focus on only environ-mental or sustainability issues. Responsible

leadership really is an issue of balance: constantly work-ing to gain a balance between getting results, and getting results in the right way.”

That means, he says, that companies must also be profitable.

“Profitability is important. It drives responsible leadership, because prosperity allows for reinvest-ment, and the companies that invest the most are the one who will get the most from this. It’s not only about profitability, however, but about providing superior, sustainable performance.”

Dr. Wells has certainly put a great deal of thought into this. After a career combining both teaching at Harvard and a range of high-level positions in inter-national firms, he became the President of Lausanne-based IMD, one of the highest-ranked graduate business schools in the world, in 2008, and holds The Nestlé Professor Chair.

“IMD has had responsible leadership as one of its core values for many years,” he says. “It’s what at-tracted me to this fine institution.”

It also means that he provides a unique take on sus-tainability, a word often used in the corporate world in recent years, but too often only in terms of more basic issues of energy and material conservation.

“Sustainability is all about an organisation being around for the long-term,” Dr. Wells explains. “It’s not about the short term, or about quick fixes, which are dangerous. I think companies should plan to be around forever!”

that family-owned firms (like WWL), often perform better here, “because they are looking ahead, and intend to be here in the future.”

Superior performance, he says, is where the ef-ficiencies are created. “Superior performance means you provide more from the resources used, and that you get greater value from a certain set of inputs.

“If you do that, then you in turn attract more re-sources and become stronger and more sustainable. In a world of fixed resources, we need to deliver more surplus than others, and that means doing more for society, for consumers and for the environment. When a company provides a large surplus, it serves all stakeholders. Unless

you provide a surplus, you have nothing to share.”Rather than being something abstract, Dr. Wells

says that responsible leadership is in fact at the very heart of the current economic crisis.

“What we are facing is not an economic crisis and it’s not a financial crisis – it’s a leadership crisis.”

To address this, IMD not only is teaching with a focus on responsible leadership, it is also holding a series of regional summits on the concept.

“Responsible leadership has different implica-tions in different parts of the world. We would like to identify and prioritize crucial global and local issues, perform research and rigorous analysis identify guid-ing principles for action and disseminate practical advice to leaders around the world.”

however, the keys to responsible leadership come, Dr. Wells says, from some very basic concepts.

“You need a good strategy, of course, with good im-plementation and good leadership. But even that isn’t always enough. Good companies sometimes collapse because they need a more agile approach – an organi-zation that is faster to respond.”

“It’s about the simple idea of being fair, about creat-ing relationships of trust and loyalty,” he continues. “If we look at pure capitalism, the goal is to maximise profitability while reducing costs. That won’t create loyalty, however. If you beat down a supplier to miser-able price levels, then if he comes up with a good idea it won’t be you who hear about it but your competitor. If you pay your workforce the minimum, it creates no loyalty and no trust.”

Companies that look ahead, address future issues and make the necessary investments are also those reap-ing the rewards. “There are companies creating renew-able products that they also sell for a higher price, so it’s really enlightened self-interest on their part. These are examples of getting the efficient processes of capitalism to solve the world’s problems, not cause them.”

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loyd’s List heralded the coming together of two of the most iconic names in Scandinavian shipping, Walleni-us Lines of Sweden and Wilh. Wilhelmsen of Norway on July 1, 1999, as a “Scandinavian marriage”. The decision to merge the two companies and create a new shipping

entity in the late 1990s reflected the rapidly changing conditions in the global shipping market for vehicles. Customers demanded more global and comprehensive solutions and the days when exports from Japan to Europe and North America accounted for more than 80 per cent of total deep-sea shipments were long gone.

With Japanese manufacturers establishing their own produc-tion facilities in Europe and North America, and car makers in South Korea, Europe and North America stepping up their ex-ports, vehicle carryings from Japan at the end of the 20th century accounted for little more than half the total.

Sweeping changes were also taking place in the world’s vehi-cle manufacturing industry which was experiencing consolida-

tion, global sourcing of materials, geographically spread pro-duction facilities, and a more diverse customer base. The whole auto manufacturing marketplace was fragmenting, on both the supply and demand side.

international press briefing in London in June 1999 Ingar Skaug, president and chief executive of Wilhelmsen and of the new company said: “Carriers must be able to offer a broad global route network, and a mixed fleet able to offer flexibility. Operating a mixed tonnage portfolio, with a range of ship sizes designed for a variety of trade lanes is essential. Only a large company has the financial muscle to build up such a fleet.”

The formation of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines was a marriage of equals. Both owners had complementary global networks. Wilhelmsen and Wallenius Lines can boast centuries of history between them. By the 1990s, Wilhelmsen was specialising in trades from Europe and the US to Oceania, as well as from Asia to North

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America. Wallenius was a leader in trades between Europe and North America, the Middle East and Asia, and had begun terminal activities and other land-based logistics operations in North Amer-ica and Europe. While Wilhelmsen had the vessels and expertise to handle breakbulk cargo, automotive and High & Heavy (H&H) equipment, Wallenius specialised in auto and H&H shipments.

In 1999 and early 2000 WWL faced the same economic turmoil as today. Add to this the normal challenges of bring-ing two companies and cultures together – and the pressures of starting up in a soft market. But instead of shrinking back under the tough market conditions, WWL focused on its vision to become a leader in finished vehicle logistics and on achieving its goals. Throughout the decade the vehicle industry experienced increasing globalisation and WWL followed suit by developing new trades and port structures to support customers’ new markets and production strategies. Between 1999 and 2009 the entire WWL fleet was rejuvenated and an impressive 25 new ships were added to increase flexibility and capacity for the mixed tonnage portfolio.

in particular, are ideal for carry-ing combined loads of cars, H&H and Non Containerised Cargo (NCC), helping to optimise space on board the vessels and thus, putting WWL at the forefront of shipping technology.

In 2006 a name change to Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics marked a shift in the company’s earlier strategy to a factory-to-dealer concept and the introduction of a five-product focus. While there was very little Terminal, Technical Services or Inland Services business in 2000, the turnover for these business areas was nearly a quarter of a billion dollars by 2004.

Today, as it celebrates its tenth anniversary, WWL is facing another challenge: turbulent market conditions. But, as in 1999, the company is well prepared to steer through the current eco-nomic storm and continue to innovate. With logistics and ocean transport at its core, the company has broadened its expertise to inland transport, terminal and technical services and bound the whole package together in a cohesive factory-to-dealer concept that will serve it, and its customers, well into the next decade.

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is consistent in any type of economy: reduce costs. Faced with this objective, the first question is always, “Who can do the work cheaper?” While procurement initiatives can improve profit-ability, requesting new rates in an inefficient design will return only limited results. Per-haps the better question is “How can I work differently?”

Companies have quickly matured from owning their own logistics assets and man-aging all logistic processes in-house to com-bining a variety of 2PL (2 Parameter Logistic Model) and 3PL region ally-based solutions to minimise complexity and achieve cost and time savings. With so many internal and external parties involved, evaluating your logistics strategy can be a daunting task.

One well-established element of WWL’s environmental initiatives is the E/S Orcelle, a concept car carrier powered by renewable energy. WWL is currently involved in three projects that may help make marine renewable energy a reality. They involve fuel cell technology, wind sail power and marine solar energy sys-tems. In 2008, the Orcelle fund, estab-lished to support innovative environmen-tal technology, awarded its first grant to a project on low carbon emission powersystems for marine applications.

The ultimate vision for the future is a “zero-emission” environment where vessels release nothing into the air or water. Meanwhile, WWL is consist-ently working to reduce emissions from the vessels it operates, including carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter. In 2008 WWL has reduced CO2 emissions per transported unit by 6.9%. The compa-ny also achieved a 12% reduction in NOx emissions compared to 2007 levels. Over the past eight years, our low-sulphur fuel policy has reduced sulphur emissions by more than 121,000 tonnes compared to the industry average level of sulphur content in fuel oil of 2.7%.

In 2008, WWL renewed its partnership with global conservation organisation WWF as the sole sponsor of the High Seas Conservation Programme. The programme promotes sustainable stewardship of the high seas through improved vessel management in four strategic areas:■ Advancing responsible flag state behaviour.■ Combating invasive species to mini-mise the threat to marine ecosystems from alien species transported in ships’ ballast water tanks.■ Spatial planning in priority areas in order to protect sensitive marine life.■ Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping sector.

One example of WWL’s worldwide environmental initiatives involved build-ing rainwater harvesting into the design of its new Laverton North Technical Services Centre in Melbourne, Australia. Huge tanks capture rainwater to meet that facil-ity’s water requirements, cutting demand from the municipal water supply by about 85%. Elsewhere in the world, WWL Vehicle Services Americas reduced its carbon diox-ide emissions by 174 metric tonnes in 2008 through an 18% cut in fuel consumption and achieved a 27.5% reduction in waste sent to landfills from its vehicle process-ing centres. Meanwhile, WWL Vehicle Services Canada eliminated approximat ely 15 tonnes of carbon emissions through a broad recycling programme.

In 2008, WWL formally launched a company Code of Conduct covering ethics, law, human rights and workplace practices. Based on the values that have shaped our company for the past decade, the Code reflects our longstanding com-mitment to ethical business behaviour. We are responsible for satisfying custom-ers, providing employees with a safe, chal-lenging and fulfilling work environment, protecting the environment and being a good world citizen. In order to encourage employee accountability, for example, WWL has introduced a performance man-agement system called “People perform-ance”, which aligns company strategy and values with planning processes and individual performance.

he M/V Vinni transports cargo from Asia and the Americas to Kotka and St. Petersburg, with transhipment taking place in

Gothenburg. A large part of the cargo is made up of cars, which are presently unloaded at the Kotka Terminal in Finland, while the H&H and NCC cargo is trans-ported directly to St. Petersburg or Kotka.

For many years now, Kotka has been the

hub where cars bound for Russia, from all over the world, are unloaded. They change ownership in Finland and are then trans-ported to Russia over land. In 2008, vol-umes at Kotka became so great that WWL decided to lease land at Sillamäe in Estonia, to accommodate the growing demand.

“In order to further improve direct con-nectivity into the Russian market, we se-cured the services of the M/V Vinni, which

had previously operated in Asia, enabling us to achieve one of our long-term objec-tives – the introduction of a feeder service into St. Petersburg itself,” explains Søren Tousgaard Jensen, Vice President and Head of Asia-EU trade and transhipment.

Western European ports experiencing a similar overload to that of Kotka, it was decided to use the Port of Gothenburg as a transhipment hub. The M/V Vinni operates a weekly schedule, linking Gothenburg, St. Petersburg and Kotka, with the additional opportunity for port calls in the Baltic and North Sea area.

“In this market, you have to be flex-ible. As the M/V Vinni is a WWL-operated vessel, we can make decisions to ensure we are providing the best service for our customers,” says Tousgaard Jensen.

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WWL is currently the only global deep-sea RoRo operator linking its deep-sea and short-sea services into St. Petersburg.

“Since the establishment of the service, we have already been experiencing grow-ing customer interest, which confirms that we have established something that really adds value for our customers,” says Tousgaard Jensen.

In addition to the new feeder services, WWL is also looking into establishing a car

terminal in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, which would make it possible to offer ter-minal services in Russia in the future.

“St. Petersburg is an important comple-ment but it will not replace Kotka, which will continue to be our main entry point to Russia. However, we are responding to a growing demand from a variety of custom-ers to offer different solutions in a chang-ing market,” concludes Kimmo Särmäkari, Managing Director, WWL Finland.

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