Purchasing Alliance XSTAFF Defies Market Developments

For years, and especially since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, the sea freight market has been suffering from capacity bottlenecks, delivery failures, and massive cost increases. However, XSTAFF GmbH demonstrates how it is still possible to stay on a growth path during these turbulent times. At the BCO Conference 2021 in Düsseldorf, the purchasing alliance presented its members with the latest results of their collaboration on September 28.

(Düsseldorf) The strong desire for personal conversations among many stakeholders is evident from the number of registrations. Despite the restrictions of a 2G event (vaccinated or recovered), over 50 representatives, primarily from member companies, attended to discuss the current status and future challenges. “This great interest shows us how important direct face-to-face exchange is to people. Ultimately, these advantages cannot be replaced by video conferences and other digital tools,” said Antonios Rigalos, Chief Growth Officer and a member of the management team since March 1, 2021, reflecting positively on the early outcomes.

Fully on Course

The results presented by Antonios Rigalos and Sergio Marmol, Managing Director of XSTAFF Iberia, were also encouraging. The alliance, which currently includes around 40 companies, is set to move over 100,000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) of cargo volume in its network for the first time in 2021. Given further additions this year, including the online furniture store Home24, XSTAFF plans to increase the volume of goods moved to 180,000 TEU in 2023. However, this is only an interim step towards the ambitious goals set at its founding in 2016. “We aim for a long-term cargo volume of around 350,000 TEU and are optimistic about reaching this milestone, especially in light of recent developments,” explains Bodo Knop, Chairman of the Board of XSTAFF, without neglecting other important topics. “To ensure we can continue to deliver our services to our customers with the usual quality, the number of XSTAFF members is limited to a maximum of 100 companies. After all, it is not just about consolidating volume, but also about reliably and punctually providing the associated transport services.”

Bringing Supply and Demand into Reasonable Balance

It is precisely these criteria that have suffered significantly under the market developments of recent months and therefore need to be brought back into focus by shipping companies, says Jan Tiedemann, Senior Analyst at the consulting firm Alphaliner and keynote speaker at the BCO Conference: “Shipping lines should restore reliability and planning security across the entire supply chain as quickly as possible, even if the ships already ordered will not be operational until at least the end of 2023.” When asked about the beneficiaries of recent developments, Jan Tiedemann recommends looking not only at the last few weeks but also at the past decade: “Of course, shipping companies are currently making good money. However, they did not generate significant profits in the years since 2010. This must also be taken into account.”

He views the merger of shippers into purchasing alliances like XSTAFF as a very effective means of countering the growing market power of shipping companies: “The container shipping industry has undergone a significant market consolidation in the last ten years. What is stopping similar developments on the purchasing side? Ultimately, it is about bringing supply and demand back into a reasonable balance.”

Collaboration is a Key to Success

This is a possible development for which XSTAFF is well prepared. Over a dozen employees at the three locations in Düsseldorf, Barcelona (Spain), and Katowice (Poland) handle incoming orders and inquiries. They can rely on a product portfolio that, in addition to sea freight, rail, and road transport, has also included air freight services since 2020. Around 40 network partners, some of whom are connected to XSTAFF through joint ventures, support the alliance in operational execution worldwide.

“This is certainly one of XSTAFF’s great strengths: We are not just a purchasing alliance, but we work together with our members to develop logistical solutions, a competence that is increasingly in demand,” emphasizes Antonios Rigalos, who looks positively towards the future thanks to the positive feedback from the market: “Of course, we still have a way to go before we achieve our goals. But as a cooperatively acting group, whose members pursue the same goals and visions without losing their independence, we have an excellent foundation to build on. We want to and will continue to strengthen and expand this cohesion in the future, as it is, alongside costs and capacities, another important key to success. The BCO Conference 2021 has impressively shown us this.”

About XSTAFF GmbH

XSTAFF GmbH was founded in October 2016 by the trading companies COOP Switzerland and the Belgian Colruyt Group as a central point of contact and coordination for a new international purchasing network. The company represents the interests of its clients by consolidating the contractually guaranteed transport volumes of the network partners, negotiating with shipping companies on their behalf, and supporting the members of the alliance in implementing their supply chains. The organization includes over 50 network service providers in Europe and Asia and operates three joint ventures with headquarters in Hong Kong (2x) and Barcelona: Cross X Staff Asia Pacific Limited, Cross X Staff Logistics Procurement Consultant Iberia S.L., and Uni-Staff Logistics (HK) Co. Limited.

Photo: © Anja Bartels-Suermondt