TTOM is a freight forwarding company established in the two main ports of Normandy in France, Le Havre and Rouen. Their logistic platform and bounded warehouses are located in the harbor zone of Rouen, which is about one hour's drive from Paris. TTOM was founded over 17 years ago. In the beginning their main business was dealing with exports from France and the Caribbean to the West Indies. In 2005 their business in China began by working with agencies at several different ports in China, who were exporting cargo to France. Mr Levavasseur said that Currently they do not have offices located in Mainland China, as they do not deal specifically with a single location, but rather need to deal with agencies from all over the country. The fact that they do not deal exclusively with any one area or agency means that it is not necessary at the moment for them to have branch offices in China.
TTOM decided to attend the conference in China because it was a good opportunity to meet face to face with representatives from the agencies they already deal with, and also to meet more freight forwarders from China with a view to expanding their network. The last conference they attended in China was in Guang Zhou, where they met several freight forwarders who they have now established partnerships with. Their business in China only began 2 years ago. They started from nothing and in this short space of time their business has grown rapidly; they now handle over 1200 containers mainly 40 dry of HQ per year from China alone.
When dealing with the cultural differences while doing business with foreign agencies Mr Levavasseur believes that communication is the key. When selecting agencies to work with they require that not just one but many of their employees can speak English. They also have translators working with them who can speak the native language of the people they are dealing with, but he insists that by it self this is not enough. The second criterion is that the company is efficient. In the beginning they test their counterparts on the quality of service, accuracy of information and the speed at which they receive replies. They base their decision on whether to continue working with an agency on this information.
At the moment TTOM mainly deals exclusively with FCL cargo, but their goal for next year is to branch out into the LCL market where Mr Levavasseur believes that the profit margins are greater, and there are more opportunities to increase his company's turnover.
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