Interview with
Mr. Eskil Ødegaard
CEO
Tell us about the establishment and history of Tschudi Logistics in Oslo. Who are the owners of the company?
Tschudi Logistics Holding AS was founded in 2006. In 2016, we merged Tschudi Logistics and Tschudi Project Transports. The merge made us an even stronger as a single brand with the ability to offer a broader line of services to our clients.
We are a part of the Tschudi Group, which was founded in 1883, and the company started in shipping. Henry Tschudi was the founder and to this day we are still owned by the Tschudi family. Our Scandinavian roots are important to us and we are particularly well-represented in Norway, with our head office in Oslo and mining activities in the north. We also have offices in our neighbouring Scandinavian countries Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Today the Tschudi Group employs 320 people and holds a total of eight companies.
I joined the Tschudi Group in 2007 to work for Tschudi Logistics Holding AS, and we established Tschudi Lines the same year. We also started a rebranding process and established offices in all the countries where our ships called. We sold our lines services in 2015 to the Danish shipping company Unifeeder and I joined them for about a year. In 2016, I returned ‘home’ and became the CEO of Tschudi Logistics Group, which I have been ever since. A lot has happened in the past three years, we have grown and today we have offices in ten countries, which are:
Rotterdam, Holland
Tallinn, Estonia
St. Petersburg, Russia
Qingdao, China
Maputo, Mozambique
Odessa, Ukraine
Aarhus, Denmark
Gothenburg, Sweden
Turku, Finland
Oslo, Norway
Are you used to handling project cargo? Could you provide us with some recent examples?
We handle projects worldwide, but we are particularly strong in Scandinavia and the Baltics.
Our latest big project in Scandinavia was the delivery of bridge elements for the Hisings Bridge in Gothenburg, Sweden. The components were loaded onto the Symphony Spirit in Bilbao, using the vessel’s two cranes in a tandem lift. The heaviest item weighed 149 tonnes and the total weight of the shipment was 1,774 tonnes. The journey from Spain to Sweden took five days and was carried out twice to deliver all forty-two bridge elements. At Tschudi Logistics, we were responsible for finding and chartering a suitable vessel for the job, designing the transport scope, loading and discharging the oversized elements and lashing and securing the cargo.
Another of our recent major projects was the logistics solution for five massive digesters and one accumulator from Finland to Belgium. The shipment included a total of forty vehicles driving simultaneously in one convoy through Belgium. The route involved passing dozens of roundabouts, lifting hundreds of low hanging electric cables, trimming thousands of tree branches, constructing temporary roads and passing through several small villages and towns in southern Belgium.
https://tschudilogistics.com/transport-of-massive-digesters/
Are you currently a part of any networks and if so, why do you feel that it is necessary to be?
At Tschudi Logistics Group we are always growing our global reach, most recently with the opening of our new office in Mozambique. To further support our international presence, we believe it is crucial to stay on top of the latest trends as well as to meet prospective partners and clients. A network like CLC Projects is ideal for exactly that, and we are also members of the Project Logistics Alliance.
There is a lot of competition in logistics nowadays. Everyone claims that they can do everything. What makes you stand out?
Being a part of the Tschudi Group also means being a part of a strong and well-established culture. The group is more than 135 years old, and as I’ve said, even today we are still owned by the Tschudi family. Our sister companies operate in offshore and towage, personnel services and ship management.
Currently, Tschudi Logistics employs fifty people. We prioritize personal contact with our clients and ensure to always deliver quick responses.
We pay a lot of attention to employee autonomy and the chain of command is short. This means that we are quick to identify opportunities. Further, we always encourage our employees to think differently to find new, smarter and better solutions in everything we do. We believe that this way of working will keep us on top of our game!
We are strong in the fields of both land and sea transportation. Our team cover everything from project freight, general forwarding and rail to chartering, provided by our in-house department. Most of the projects we operate require multimodal logistics solutions and we can offer the entire package.
Tell us about your career. Why did you choose a career in shipping and logistics? What do you like about it?
I started my short sea career in Lys-Line 1989. At the time, this was a well sought-after liner company and in 2003 Lys-line were bought by DFDS. I followed along and became a part of DFDS. While I liked the job and the challenges that it posed, I started missing the charm of working at a smaller company.
I missed having my fingers in the mud of tasks across the organization and being closely connected with all parts of the supply chain. As a result, I started looking for other opportunities and this is when Tschudi came to my attention. Tschudi was an opportunity to return to a family-owned company with a rather flat-structure and a short chain of command.
I am fond of working in environments like this and I have a strong focus on encouraging our employees to think outside the box. Hence our tagline: Creating value by daring to be different.
What’s the best way to contact you?
Mr. Eskil Ødegaard
E-mail: eoe@tschudilogistics.com
Phone: +47 67 11 98 98 / +47 917 97 64
