This year has been a challenge for all of us. The COVID crisis has radically impacted on our daily life and work, changing the rules of the global economy. The majority of the companies applied a conservative approach blocking investments and reducing the number of their staff.
We have chosen to act differently.
We considerably increased our investments in new assets and technologies but, even more important, we invested in our people and acquired more competences. Our staff has grown by a 10% increase since the beginning of the year. The following lines sum up our main achievements of 2020. A quick glance back before moving forward.
A BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THANKS TO DIGITALIZATION
Our decisions and investments are always taken looking at our mission which is providing a better costumer experience. Digitalization is probably the most powerful tool that we have to support such an amazing commitment.
Incredible results have been already achieved during this year such as a complete integration of our partners through our platform MyDesk and a complete track&trace system for our ocean shipments that will be extended in January to airfreight.
Many other projects are ongoing such as our new eCMR tool, a predictive system for LTL and logistics, a full digital cooperation eco-system with customers and providers.
The best is yet to come.
OUR GROWTH THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY
During 2020 we have renovated our commitment to be leader in the development of transport and logistics sector by promoting a new investment plan in research and innovation.
As far as sustainability is concerned, we have increased our alternative fuels fleet closing a deal for 100 LNG trucks and reaching 50 BIO-diesel trucks. Next year we will see the first operations managed through BIOLNG and hydrogen.
Our intermodal flows have also given a great contribute to the decarbonization of our value chain by moving the equivalent of 15.000 trucks from road to rail.
We are moving fast towards the 0 emission goal but we are fully aware that we are still far away, so we have started to involve our customers in compensation projects. Through a proper calculation of emissions, we offer a full compensation of transport negative externalities by implementing certified social and environmental projects.
INCREASE OUR NETWORK
Our strong belief is to be as close as possible to our customers and our main markets. Along this year our network has been considerably improved, investing on new offices and warehouses.
Our road and intermodal shipments (FTL, LTL), project cargo (XTL) and air&ocean shipments (PAO) can now count on five more offices in Italy (Lainate, Pesaro, Padova, Turin and Florence), a new office in Romania (Oradea) and Germany (Frankfurt).
New warehouses have been opened in Poland (Poznan), counting on a direct rail connection, and Italy (Pavia, close to Milan) supporting the development plan that the Group has set up for Italy.
2021 is a new page to write and we will do it counting once again on our partners and collaborators.
Thanks for your trust.
We wish you a happy new year!