cases

Toyo Gosei is a medium sized chemical company, manufacturing and marketing food additives, aroma, fine chemicals and raw materials for the semi-conductor industry. Last year, the company decided to look into the possibility of expanding their presence in Europe, by setting up a warehousing operation in The Netherlands. Up until now, the products had been shipped directly from Japan to their European customers, mainly by ocean freight. However, the lead-time between receiving a customer’s order and delivering the product was very long. Besides, in case of rush orders, the barrels with product had to be shipped by airfreight which was very costly.

Based on the information about the planned operation, six companies were initially selected. Each of these companies was certified to handle dangerous goods, could handle customs formalities and offered distribution services for barrels throughout Europe. After receiving the profiles of the selected companies, , these companies were visited by a Toyo Gosei delegation. Based on the information they gathered during the visits, and the quotations, they then narrowed down the selection to three companies. After visiting these three companies again for more detailed discussions about the quotation, and the planned operation, Toyo Gosei selected STORE-SHIP B.V. as partner for logistics in Europe.

STORE-SHIP B.V. is a privately owned company, located in the Port of Rotterdam area. The company operates a public European Distribution Centre where the national, European, and world-wide storage, processing, handling and distribution for their clients takes place. As the chemical industry is one of the areas of expertise of this company, it was a perfect fit for Toyo Gosei. As of march 2005, STORE-SHIP B.V. takes care of the customs clearance, storage, order processing and distribution for Toyo Gosei’s European market. Besides, they act as a fiscal representative for Toyo Gosei.