Alfred Vesely is responsible for Central European timber shippings to the MENA region
© Holzkurier
If you call Alfred Vesely you will most probably catch him on site in Algier, Bejaia or Casablanca - or on his way to one of those places. In June, Timber-Online seized the opportunity to witness one of his typical working days. Vesely commutes biweekly to Portoroz in Slovenia with his plane. This time, there is not only an additional author on board but also Austrian thumbtacks for packing slips. "They simply cost less in Austria", Susanne Vesely, head of finance and administration, explains the cost-conscious way of working at Vesely Timber Export.
100 m ship for more than 8000 m³
The second-hand bought "Cessna" is the only plane of the AV-Line, and the only cargo ship is waiting in the port of Koper. This time, 8500 m³ are loaded for two customers in Algeria. "Before we had our own ship the shipping company virtually always had two ships reserved for us", Vesely shares. "Since we are operating the ship ourselves now, I can place the goods in the destination port just in time. Other exporters have to look for shipping space again and again."
More flexibility with your own cargo ship
Breakbulk shipping is very different from truck or rail transportation. "With ships, things with brokers are usually sorted out quickly. However, it can still take up to three weeks until the load reaches its destination", Vesely talks about everyday business.
Therefore, he got his own ship where goods are only handled with plastic slings. This improves loading and discharging times and protects the wood packages.
Customers with increasing demands
The top deck is filling up package by package - this time it only takes one and a half days until the ship is full, and 4 m lower than in its unloaded state. From the bridge, Vesely oversees the charging with a critical eye. He is satisfied with the individual color coding and the timber protection, both is taken care of on site in Koper. He is less fond of the differently colored top layers: One out of five is darker than the rest. "These are the topmost packages of the original package stacks. It may only be a minor visual flaw, but MENA buyers are becoming increasingly demanding. What was still acceptable a few years ago is out of the question today", Vesely exemplifies increasing demands.
Thorough checks of imports
"The Algerian customs authorities are extremely strict. The ship with the shipping documents may only be undercharged by 5% and overcharged by 0%", he describes the customs situation. "If it doesn't add up, the timber cannot leave the port, or alternatively high customs penalties must be paid."
When in Rome, do as the Romans do ...
If shipping quantities and dimensions are right, this still does not mean that the ship may also be discharged. By now, however, Vesely is an expert when it comes to interacting with port authorities to achieve reliable and quick discharging. It is, amongst others, for this reason why he tries to be on site for every ship unloading in the Algerian Bejaia.
The 100 m cargo ship is equipped with its own two cargo cranes. "This is a huge advantage at destination ports - to be able to discharge independent of the conditions", Vesely explains.
Timber advertising for MENA sales
Vesely produced a promotional film for his company to advertise local timber on far-away markets. It depicts state-of-the-art timber harvesting in high-altitude mountains. This is also supposed to symbolize the origin of the AV goods: "Most of our purchases come from Austria, some additional volumes come from neighboring countries to the North and the East."
Vesely is optimistic that the current year will bring significant demand increases. "The rest of the year still has potential for high sales levels. But only if prices are right", Vesely adds. " €200/m³ constitute a real limit. Then, the quality of goods doesn't matter anymore: If prices are not adequate, customers go elsewhere to buy."
200,000 m³ and more per year
Alfredy Vesely hopes to sell and ship more than 200,000 m³ to North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf region with the help of his 13 employees and 13 seafarers. 280,000 m³ were sold in record year 2012.
With his on-site presence, Vesely enabled Central European sawmills to place almost 4 million m³ on the most important overseas market over time. An achievement that has earned him the Austrian export prize two times already.
Vesely was the first to start with container shipping for exports to the MENA region (2004). "This paved the way for many others. Because almost everybody can load containers." Since 2015, he has been the owner of a cargo ship.
