Jctrans: Would you please make a brief introduction of your company?

Justus Klüver - Schlotfeldt: Founded in 2009, The CGATE Group is a family owned, full end to end Logistics Supply Chain operator.

Beside of Air, Ocean and Rail, we serve a various of niche services with dedicated teams like Amazon FBA, e-Commerce, AOG, Ship spare parts, Cold Chain as well as Defence and military Cargo. We also have a great experience in customs brokerage with having ex customs officers working for us.

Overall seen, so do we operate with our own staff in 5 countries. Beside of our HQ in Hamburg, we serve every German Airport and we have commercial offices in Dusseldorf, 2 x offices in Poland – Gdynia and Warsaw as well as a full operational set up in London, UK. In the BE-NE-LUX so are we operating out of the port of Rotterdam and Antwerp.

CGATE is holding their own FMC license which is registered in the USA and we are amongst the top IATA CASS ranked Forwarder in Germany.

Jctrans: Would you please talk about your core-competitiveness?

Justus Klüver - Schlotfeldt: Airfreight clearly is our strongest product. We cover every German Airport as well as LHR and WAW and have a 24/ AOG desk for Aerospace parts, OBC etc. E-Commerce and classic Ocean Freight are our second strongest products, while e-Commerce is growing within the group by 12 % / quarter. The group tries to concentrate on niche markets to have a wide range of services. 

Jctrans: What do you think is the most important thing to run a logistics company?

Justus Klüver - Schlotfeldt: Clearly the people! If you fail to have a good team, no company will make it a long way. If you care for your staff, they care for the company. In line with that, the network and connections for an international operating company are essential. 

Jctrans: Would you please talk about the situation of logistic industry in your country?

Justus Klüver - Schlotfeldt: We are operating all over Europe. Heaving our HQ in Germany, I will speak briefly about the situation here. Operating in Germany is extremely tough, since the competition is on a very high level. There is only a few countries that have more registered forwarder then here. It is very important that you find a good balance in the products you are offering and that you stay close to your customers. A good IT setup is very important these days to not fall behind. 

Jctrans: Would you please talk about your strategy to explore foreign market?

Justus Klüver - Schlotfeldt: Joint sales with local partner. This works out very good for us. We share sales leads and do joint sales visits with our overseas partner. This is very effective, as it shows trust, knowledge and effort to the local prospect client.

Jctrans: What is the reason that makes you become a GCP member to develop your business?

Justus Klüver - Schlotfeldt: Having a financial protection is very important. Only a handful of our overseas partner are non-network agents. In the fast-changing globalized world, companies that are financial stable today, may not be the day after tomorrow. We have seen this multiple times and need to protect us as good as we can.

Jctrans: How do you maintain a long-term cooperation relationship with your clients?

Justus Klüver - Schlotfeldt: Working on mutual benefit! This is the only way. Beside of good service, always both sides need to have a profit. In case you do not have any business to give back, you need to agree on a higher kick back option, or look into other models like cross trades etc. Clearly, you cannot run a one-way street for a long time. The times that you act as a vendor only, are over.