Pioneer of the intermodal concept
In conversation with Ambrogio Intermodal CEO Pieralberto Vecchi. The firm’s doing “less badly than others,” as Pieralberto Vecchi, who became CEO of Ambrogio Intermodal two years ago, told ITJ editor Andreas Haug at the Transport Logistic fair in Munich earlier this year. He provided insights into Ambrogio’s history and its plans for the future in this interview – conducted in German! Before joining Ambrogio he was managing director of DB Cargo Italia Services for ten years.
Mr Vecchi, tell us a little about Ambrogio Intermodal’s story – which goes back as far as 1969, after all.
The courage shown by father and son Domenico and Livio Ambrogio to invest all their capital in a vision, namely in intermodal transport, is the very foundation of Ambrogio Intermodal. And don’t forget that they did so at a time when not many people believed in the success of this business concept. At the time there wasn’t one other private enterprise operating in this field in Europe.
The Ambrogios saw containers arriving from the USA in the seaports of Rotterdam and Antwerp – and simply deduced the best next step. Their approach – move forward with courage and conviction – has characterised our company’s success over the past 50 years.
How has your firm developed since the 2019 Transport Logistic trade fair?
A look at the bare figures will make it difficult to assess the truth of the last few years. In terms of volumes there was a dip in 2020 compared to 2019, followed by a big leap in 2021. 2022 was fairly stable.
We’d actually budgeted 10 – 15% more, but – just like many other players in the sector – didn’t manage to achieve this so far, partially because of ongoing work on Germany’s infrastructure, amongst other factors. We managed to maintain margins, despite higher energy costs, because our customers understood that our higher prices were due to inflation and the tragic events in Ukraine.
What are your expectations for 2023?
In October 2022 we budgeted for 10% growth in volume, compared to 2022. Now we’ve predicted a fall of about 5%. Financially, we’re managing to limit losses to around 1%, thanks to our sales skills, which have even won us new customers.
You know the industry and many of your colleagues here. What’s the general feeling about further developments?
I haven’t missed a single Transport Logistic trade fair since 1999 – and I’ve never experienced a mood amongst the participants such as this year. So constructive and so hopeful. Everyone’s aware that the market is developing weakly, weaker than was predicted, but if we all work hard we’ll achieve more this year.
How does Ambrogio’s network work?
It consists of five national units, starting with Italy, of course, and including Belgium, Germany, France and Spain. A total of 21 train pairs a week connect all our terminals, with nine connections on our historic routes to and from Belgium. We also offer eight runs to and from Neuss (Germany), which will grow to ten by the end of this year. France is more difficult, but we’re proud to be the only intermodal operator to serve the Atlantic coast at Mouguerre, near Bayonne.
Tell us a bit about your new facility that opened near Verona in June.
The Domegliara site is our third terminal in Italy. We’ve been operating in the area since 2020 and now we’ve built our own terminal there, same as in Candiolo (in the metropolitan city of Turin, 15 km southwest of Turin proper) and Gallarate (in the province of Varese).
The fact that Ambrogio owns all of its assets itself is almost unique in the sector. On top of seven terminals with cranes and storage areas we also own 1,700 swap bodies, 380 wagons as well as 450 chassis. We can thus offer a full range of logistics services ourselves. This enables us to better manage the overall quality of our services.