Interview with
Mr. Danilo Sergi Alampi
General Manager & Director
First of all Danilo can you tell us about the history of Capital Logistic Transport and also a bit about who owns you?
Capital Logistic Transport was founded in 2000 by Sisam, a big Italian group active in freight forwarding, terminal management (the group manages the operation of Trieste Container Terminal in Italy) and as a shipping agency (Sisam is partner and agent of Evergreen Container Lines in Italy and several others in Eastern European countries).
The group has more than 1,000 employees working in 28 offices in Europe and China.
Is your Shanghai office fully-owned or a joint venture? For how long have you been established in China?
The company is a fully-owned foreign invested one. The first office was opened in Hong Kong in 2000, followed by the Shanghai representative office in 2002. In 2006, we decided to close the Chinese representative office and open instead a fully-licensed local company.
What is your main business currently, and how does the current Corona pandemic and subsequent restrictions influence your business?
Looking at our business throughout these last twenty years in China, our activity has diversified a lot. Our main business is still in container shipping, but our teams handle regularly:
- RORO Cargo: On a monthly basis, we ship several electrical vehicles from China to Europe and South-East Asia by sea. We have even shipped a car from China to Italy in 12 days door-to-door by truck (with three drivers involved) to enable our client to participate in an important automotive fair.
- Liquid chemical in Isotanks and flexitanks.
- Project cargo (more later)
- A/F with our own monthly consol from Italy
- Railway cargo to Central Asian countries, especially Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
Our numbers (in terms of volume and revenue) have not been affected negatively by the current pandemic. As a matter of fact, the last three years have been the best for our company. Operation-wise, instead, they have been quite difficult to handle considering the continuous lockdowns, which has affected not only our clients, but also our employees, and the transportation limitations that have been imposed in the entire country here and there.
Have you experience in handling project cargoes in China, and if so, could you elaborate a bit and provide us with a few examples?
The group has always been involved in project cargo, since its foundation in 1985. Therefore, it was a natural decision to set up a team in Shanghai as well. We started the project department here in China in 2010, mostly handling oil and gas equipment to the Black Sea area and paper tissue machinery (Yankee dryers and hoods) into China.
In the following years, we have seen all types of cargo: mining and construction equipment, trafos, wind blades, amusement rides, etc.
In the last eight months, due to the pandemic, we have arranged the relocation of three factories that were leaving China to move their production to other countries: Malaysia, Turkey and Italy. We shipped out reactors, tanks and full production lines.
How many years have you been in China?
More than 16 years and always working for Capital. I moved from Italy to Chongqing (in the middle of China) at the beginning of 2006 and then after a few months, I switched to Shanghai. I’ve been lucky to see the different stages of China’s development: the booming years of 2006 and 2007, the financial crisis, the rebound and the change of paradigm of the last few years.
Despite the pandemic strict regulations and hassle, I’m still fully devoted to the development of our group operations in China.
Do you currently have more offices in China, Asia? Are you currently a member of any international networks?
We have three offices (Hong Kong, Shanghai and Suzhou) in China, and we plan to open a fourth one within the first months of 2023.
In addition, we’re members of:
- CLC project for project cargo;
- PPL for general cargo;
- PBLA for bulk liquid.
How do you foresee the business in the coming 6-9 months if you look into your crystal ball?
I do expect the market to be stable, with minor ups and downs till the Chinese New Year 2023. In the longer term, economic factors (inflation, China slowing down) and geopolitical ones (Russia, Taiwan, availability of semiconductors and rare earth materials) may play a bigger role, and therefore, even my crystal ball does not give a clear picture.
There’s only one solution: keep on grinding.
What is the best way for our readers to get in touch with you?
I can be reached at:
Mobile: +86 13601663904
danilo.sergi@capital-logistic.com.cn
