Zoran Netković, CEO of "Agent Plus" - ambitious plans of this maritime-river agency

Zoran Netković

Professionalism, realized contracts and ambitious plans of Maritime-River Agency "Agent Plus" have introduced new quality in the field of transportation, freight-forwarding and agency business in Serbia. In the intervies for "eKapija", Zoran Netković, the CEO of "Agent Plusa", announced that that company would like to make its service complete and provide logistical support to its clients, as well as that it planned to "cover" all entrance port doors in the region.

- "Agent Plus" is one of rare Serbian companies that operate in Croatia. Last year we opened company "Agent Plus" in Rijeka and offices in Novi Sad, Veliko Gradište, Niš, Pančevo, Smederevo and Bezdan. We plan to open agency companies in Montenegro, Romania and Macedonia. We reached the agreement with our Belgian partner, company "Alhers", on formation of a company in Constanza, and we are currently working on the business plan. That should be followed by the opening of offices in Port "Bar", and maybe even in Salonika and in Macedonia – Netković announced.

Speaking of "completion of the service", Zoran Netković says that "Agent Plus" offers services of organization of "door to door" transportation for all types of goods, no matter if they are transported in containers, by truck, rail or airplane, or if the goods are dispersed, general or liquid freight, and it also offers services of organization of transportation of special freights, export-import customs clearing, and storing goods in its own warehouse.

"Agent Plus" has recently opened a customs storage in Zemun's settlement Altina. With the aim of preserving quality of stored goods, storage space at 1,000 square meters is situated in the vicinity of Novi Sad's highway. The customs clearing is done in the storage, and the goods are then dispatched to the final destination in Serbia or in the region.

- In the near future we expect further improvement of cooperation with Belgian company "Alhers", which plans to invest in development of logistical centers in Serbia. The delegation of that corporation was staying in our country on several occasions and took in consideration all the options for construction of modern warehouses – says Mr. Netković and adds that the opening of the customs storage by "Agent Plus" was in accord with the plans for future cooperation.

Introduction of two new services for transportation of LCL containers represents a real refreshment for Serbian market. "Agent Plus" has recently started transportation of LCL containers from China and USA. Competitive prices and transit time have already drew great attention of local importers, which had to reduce the quantity of goods delivered to them from aforementioned countries because of the global crisis, so that these services are now in high demand.

- We have organized collection of goods in two Chinese ports and their transportation to Belgrade without reloading, so that the goods reach the final buyer without any risk and in optimal time. Link with the cities on east and west coasts of the USA has been provided through direct service from USA.

Zoran Netković points out that one of the ambitions of "Agent Plus" is to improve the cooperation with leading ship transportation company "Maersk Line", which was founded in June 2008. Through general agency, Serbian company and its partners have got the quality connection with all major ports in the world where "Maersk Line" has its agents and terminals. Company "Maersk Line" has over 500 container ships and 1.9m containers in its possession, as well as 25,000 employees in 325 offices all around the world. The capacity of certain ships exceeds 11,000 TEU.

Netković emphasizes that "Maersk Line" has kept the direct service from the Far East to Adriatic ports of Rijeka, Kopar and Trieste. That is the only such direct service that eliminates all the risks that accompany reloading of containers.

"Agent Plus" organizes transportation of goods in containers of all types, from all sides of the world, by combining maritime, road, rail and river transporting in an optimal manner.

- We are monitoring transport of containers, their storing at terminals and timely unloading, reloadings, combining of the best transit times with optimal prices of transportation, control of quality of goods, insurance, and series of other works – says Netković and adds that "Agent Plus" can also resolve special logistical tasks when it comes to transportation of special freights from all destinations around the world.

That company developed the ship agency service on the Danube last year, which includes logistical aid to all types of freight and passenger vessels that come to our ports. The most significant contracts are signed with Bulgarian, German and local ship transportation companies, which made the company the largest agent on the Danube.

- This service has not been sufficiently developed yet, but we do our best to keep our agency services on European level. It also enables booking of the space on board with reliable ship transportation companies, and "Agent Plus" has the right information on loading, unloading, status of goods and position of facilities, as well as on the situation in ports and on border crossings.

Transportation to Russia

- In association with a large international company, we are working on the project for distribution of goods for Russian Federation, which does not include truck transportation. The project includes transportation on the Danube river to Constanza, across the Black Sea, to the final destination. That is an exceptionally complex project where you need to take care of ships, capacities, return tours... We have developed a comprehensive system that combines agency services, ship transportation, freight-forwarding, containers, and makes it possible for us to fit the whole project into a whole. We plan to raise the organization of transport to Russia to a higher level because the volume of exchange of goods with that country is growing. Also, such activities also represent a special logistical challenge for our company, and we can cope with it successfully thanks to the expert potential of our staff.

Port "Bar"

How big priority is privatization of Port "Bar" for the economy in Serbia?

- Port "Bar" is interesting because, by entering the ownership structure of this port, from the economic point of view, Serbia would get access to the sea. However, the conditions for achievement of the results that are in accordance with the projected capacities of the port are construction of Belgrade-Bar highway and reconstruction of the rail, which now represents a bottleneck in transportation of goods from that destination. In addition to technical problems, there are also serious organizational problems. Implementation of both projects is almost impossible at the moment.

- Also, current restructuring of the port may slow down and make privatization of Port "Bar" difficult. We should wait for the things to become more clear, but making of the decisions that are solely based on social motives may endanger position of this port in the region on long-term basis because the ports of Kopar and Rijeka have made much greater progress in their infrastructural connecting with Serbia, while the port of Constanza is definitely preferred because of its natural connection through the Danube river. Special problem in very close future will be the competitiveness of Albanian ports of Drač and Valona. Construction of modern highway that will connect the port of Drač to the system of modern junctions is close to end, and the plans for construction of a modern port in Valona (with the projected reloading capacity of over 3,000,000 TEU) are almost finished. It is for sure that port "Bar" can not be seriously developed without the support of Serbian market. Our friends in Bar know that our company, together with them, constantly seeks the right and economically sustainable solutions.

- However, in order for you to get a valid answer to your question, it is necessary to know the long-term policy of Serbia when it comes to investments in very complex and expensive infrastructural projects, such as the highway to Montenegro and the possibility and dynamics of investments in serious technical and organizational reconstruction and modernization of railways. Having in mind the lack of reliable and financially complete structures for aforementioned investments, I am afraid that we are already late and that such decision is not based on real economically justified indexes.

Agreement on free trade between Serbia and Turkey

The Agreement is the chance for our exporters, and it will lead to greater exchange of goods. Which transportation companies will have more work to do, Serbian or Turkish ones?

- I believe that these reliefs will increase the exchange of goods between the two countries. At the moment, we are exporting almost nothing to Turkey and importing much from that country. We were thinking to introduce a container line from Turkey, but the prices of truck transportation are now exceptionally low, and Turkish transportation companies have high-quality and large road fleet. They are slowly avoiding our roads and distribute goods for Europe on the ships through Italy. Slovenian Railways have introduced the block train from Koper to Turkey, via Ljubljana. We will stay up to date with the situation because if the price of truck transportation starts growing, ships may become competitive.

M.K.