Interview with
Ms. Bianca Namer
Sales & Marketing Manager
Please tell our readers about the history of the Fevzi Gandur Shipping Agency and elaborate on the ownership.
The Fevzi Gandur Group of companies has a long history as a shipping agency and in logistics. Our experience in this sector goes back to 1948 when the Group was founded in Lebanon as a shipping agency. The first Turkish company was formed in Istanbul in 1986. Over the years, additional owned offices were formed in Izmir, Mersin, Gemlik and Bursa. Agency activities were extended to other neighbouring countries.
We have the expertise in rendering our agency services to Container, Dry-Bulk, Tanker, Reefer and Cruise Operators/Owners. The Fevzi Gandur Shipping Agency is a member of Multiport, the largest Ship Agency Network.
We have and still represent a number of world class and still are part of the following liners either as Agents or as JV;
- Jugolinija / Croatia Lines (Break-Bulk & Container Agency)
- Costa Container Lines (Container Agency)
- United Arab Shipping Co (Container, JV)
- China Shipping Container Lines (Container, JV)
- Wan Hai Lines (Container Agency)
- Ecuadorian Line (Reefer, Agency)
- Fred Olsen (Cruise, On Sight Excursion Agency)
As you can notice from the name, the company was first formed by Mr. Fevzi Gandur and now is owned and managed by his sons, Mr. Cemil Gandur and Mr. Ali Gandur. We are a family company with strong values, managed as a corporation with an excellent reputation in the marketplace.
Turkey has a huge number of both shipping agents and freight forwarders. How do you ensure that you stand out in the crowd as the one to be chosen?
Over the last 25 years, we have added Freight Forwarding, Land Transportation, Logistics and Distribution activities to our existing Ship Agency services. These include: project cargo shipment; contract logistics; domestic distribution; macro & micro delivery with dedicated fleet; time-sensitive shipments as pharma & spare parts for vessels; intermodal services to Europe; collection & warehouse services of export cargo via international haulage as FTL & LTL; import & export air cargo operations at the new Istanbul Airport Warehouse; and finally, e-commerce order fulfillment services.
We are able to offer complete, end-to-end solutions from point of origin/manufacture to point of consumption. We have the full capability of moving cargo in every transportation mode: air, sea and land. We can combine and provide multimodal shipment to our customers from one supplier—which is us. Providing all these services separately or in combined form facilitates the customers job which eventually makes us a preferred carrier/service provider in the market.
We pride ourselves on our superior customer service and sophisticated IT systems that ensure customers will have constant and up-to-date information about their shipments.
Tell our readers about your main business currently.
Actively, we provide our Agency Services to the following Owners:
- ZPMC Heavy Lift and Semi-Submersible Vessels
- Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
- Various Navy Vessels and Tramp Owners
Our NVOCC partners are:
- Sarjak Container Lines (Shipment of out of Gauge Project Cargo in SOC 20ft, 40ft Special Equipment as Open Top, Hard Top, Flat Rack)
- Bulkglobal Logistics (Shipment of Chemicals in 20ft Iso-tanks)
- Nepal Shipping Lines
- Fairmacs Multiline pvt
Can you provide services in all Turkish ports? How about transshipment to Iraq—is that also possible for you to arrange?
Yes, we can provide agency services at all Turkish ports, including the transshipment to/fm Iraq via Mersin and Iskenderun, FTL as well as Project Cargo.
Has Covid 19 impacted your business, and how do you find the business environment at the moment in Turkey during this pandemic?
We strongly believe that every crisis brings various opportunities, and within this aspect, we grow each day. Due to our IT backbone, we were already equipped to handle the sudden disruption in the business environment and very reduced access to our office facilities. We have carried on “business as usual”, have actually grown significantly during 2020, and are on track to even more growth during 2021. Our range of products, our flexibility, and our focus to provide solutions even in the most difficult working environment has allowed us to capture a significant market share in all our product offerings.
The current business environment in Turkey is slowly getting back to normal. We’ve seen a resumption of project cargo movements and a general increase in cargo movement across all modes of transport. The situation is still not 100% back to normal, especially due to disruption in liner services, huge increases in container and charter rates, and lack of available equipment & space. However, 2021 is a definite improvement over last year and the situation is getting better day by day.
What are your future plans?
Logistics is in the midst of a technology-driven revolution. We believe that companies which have robust digital capabilities, keep up with the data collected at every phase of the shipment, and utilize these to manage cost control, quotation preparation and eventually keep the customers aware of their cargo whereabouts, will not only help to facilitate our job but customer satisfaction as well. Business online is essential to follow up; however keeping in close communication with the customers will always be a must. For this purpose, we are giving our utmost support to our IT and HR departments.
Our focus is to be able to solve our customer’s supply chain requirements, and therefore, we will be expanding all our offerings. Yet, for the next year, our project, intermodal, e-commerce and pharmaceutical departments will be receiving special focus. We will keep on concentrating our extensive experience in dealing with variety of principals (Charterers, Owners, Operators), in both Turkey and International shipping which will enhance the Fevzi Gandur Shipping Agency to a high level of acknowledgement from a multitude of clients around the world within the aspect of Project Cargo Handling.
How is it best for our readers to get in touch with you?
We will be pleased to welcome inquiries regarding Shipments of Out of Gauge Cargo in 20ft, 40ft Special Equipment as Open Top, Hard Top, Flat Rack and also for Big Project Cargoes through: info@seahorsenet.com & info@fevzigandur.com
