H. Daugaard assisted BASF on growth journey
With products such as chemicals and a highly seasonal market, there are many factors to consider in terms of logistics. For this reason, one of the many chemicals H. Daugaard handles for BASF involved particularly intensive work in regards of distribution.
The cooperation between BASF and H. Daugaard goes back to the beginning of the 2000s. The chemical company BASF had sold off its own logistics business but maintained its ambition to occupy a leading position on the Nordic markets with its Agricultural Solutions division.
As a result, the chemical facilities at the warehouse hotel of H. Daugaard in Vamdrup has been expanded over the years. We now handle around 200 SKU for BASF in addition to chemicals from a range of other customers.
“H. Daugaard has been along for our journey. Rather than limiting, they have facilitated our growth”, says Luisa Bülow Boje Ferrentino, Nordic Supply Chain responsible for BASF Agricultural Solutions.
She underlines the importance of H. Daugaard’s familiarity with BASF products and the special requirements that follow. In this way, time spent explaining and advising can be kept to a minimum. And then she emphasizes the importance of having a dedicated contact person at H. Daugaard, just as several of our other large logistics customers do.
”H. Daugaard has always been competitively priced when renegotiating contracts with us. We might save a bit if we went with a competitor, but then we would not have the same level of service”, she says.
Storage and distribution of chemicals requires knowledge
Some of the special issues when handling chemicals are the many requirements that follow. The authorities and manufacturers are extremely vigilant about the risks involved in the handling of chemicals. Warehouses and trucks must be suitable for the purpose, and all drivers receive special training.
Special demands are also made to warehouse workers and drivers picking and handling goods in the warehouse as well as all products being labeled with batch numbers so that they may be tracked all the way from production to end-user. Many chemicals must also be kept at temperatures above freezing. For this reason, the weather report is a much-used tool for chemical transportation. If there is a risk of frost, the chemicals are transported to customers in thermo trailers.
– Basically, it is all about precision, says Jan Nielsen, department head of the 25,000 sq.m. large warehouse hotel of H. Daugaard in Vamdrup.
He explains that the time frame for delivery of chemical products to end-user in agriculture is very limited. It is unacceptable if a farmer has the wrong product on the one day when conditions are ideal for crop spraying.
– We must be extremely precise with our deliveries. There is absolutely no margin for error, says Jan Nielsen.
Joint efforts behind quick launch
The spring of 2021 was a good example of the flexibility and mutual understanding which marks the cooperation between BASF and H. Daugaard. The agricultural industry had waited with bated breaths for Balaya, the newest product from BASF. At H. Daugaard’s logistics hub in Vamdrup everything was lined up to quickly distribute to Danish farmers.
There was just one “but”: Distribution could not be initiated until the authorities had given their final green light. If the products should fail to reach their end-users during early spring, it would have enormous cost consequences for BASF.
“We had no indication of when to expect the approval. We only knew that it would be in March. And if we did not distribute Balaya in time, our customers would be forced to buy from our competition”, says Luisa Bülow Boje Ferrentino.
On the certainty that the official approval was expected at some point, BASF had decided to produce a large volume of its new fungicide. It was now being transported from the factory in Spain to the warehouse hotel of H. Daugaard in Vamdrup.
For chemical products, it is extremely important that information on the special product labels is correct. For this reason, labels cannot be printed until the authorities have given their final approval. In Vamdrup, staff was preparing to apply new labels to several thousand, white 5-liter containers. Extra staff was ready to take over in shifts once the approval arrived. All that was left to do was wait.
“We sold everything”
On 15 March 2021, the approval for Balaya was finally received. It was time to effectuate immediately.
BASF sent a PDF file from its office in Copenhagen containing the details of the labels to the printshop in Randers. In Randers, a taxi driver was tasked with delivering labels to the warehouse hotel fresh off the print. In Vamdrup the team was ready for its job. One by one, transport labels were removed from the Balaya containers, and new labels attached. Staff worked 24/7, even weekends and the Easter holidays were used to deliver the products to farms in Denmark.
“We sold everything as fast, as we could import the fungicide. It has been a hard and repetitive job for the warehouse staff, but if Balaya had not been ready until the end of April, we would have missed the season”, says Luisa Bülow Boje Ferrentino.
We are always experiencing a good and stabile service with reliable and dedicated employees. They always find a solution and they act agile
We experience H. Daugaard as self-driven and incredibly cooperative. Their ability to put the puzzle together for Envases Europe makes great value to our business
