Transuniverse Forwarding and Naxco/OTEC (Prague) have entered into a strategic partnership for groupage traffic between Belgium and the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The aim is to increase and strengthen the flow of goods between the two regions.
The Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Belgium are important trading partners: they rank roughly tenth place in each other's export destinations. Belgian companies mainly send goods suitable for groupage, while Czech and Slovak companies primarily export industrial products, usually in full trucks. Nevertheless, the share of groupage shipments to Belgium is increasing. With this new collaboration, both parties aim to better capture these freight flows.
“In Naxco/OTEC, we have found a partner that is keen to actively develop groupage traffic to Belgium. With more balanced flows, our reliance on the spot market will decrease, enabling us to achieve greater price stability. In the long term, this will also lead to more weekly departures (currently around 3 to 4 per week) and thus to better door-to-door lead times,” says Alexander Bekaert, Traffic Operations Manager at Transuniverse.
Growing groupage traffic
Naxco Group, based in Suresnes near Paris, began as a specialist in maritime services and freight forwarding. In 2022, the Overland division was established to expand the range of services to include road transport, particularly between France and Central and Eastern Europe. The focus has since shifted to other Western European EU countries as well. The partnership between OTEC, which has been part of the Naxco Group since 2022, and Transuniverse fits within this strategy, explains Robert Nechyba, founder and director of Naxco/OTEC.
Naxco/OTEC offers its customers a wide range of services, including groupage and partial-load transport. “This market segment is growing rapidly in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We already had a partner in Belgium, but that company focused too heavily on full truckloads, while we want to significantly expand our groupage activities. We are thus pleased to now have Transuniverse as our partner in Belgium, as they are a leading specialist in groupage,” emphasises Michal Skalický, Business Manager at Naxco/OTEC.
Image: Transuniverse
