The coronavirus pandemic has created great challenges for the entire economy, including the transport sector
The Perić Trans Company was founded in the difficult decade of the 1990s. Thanks to the strong commitment of the company owners and the quality of service, the company has been in business for 30 years now. However, the transport sector was particularly affected during the coronavirus pandemic. We spoke with the director of Perić Trans Company, Branka Perić Šljivić about the company’s response to the crisis caused by the coronavirus and other challenges the company has encountered during the three decades of successful operations.
The Perić Trans Company is engaged in an economic activity that has been particularly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. How did you overcome all the challenges and what are the problems that your sector is currently facing?
The coronavirus pandemic has created great challenges for the entire economy, including the transport sector. Our sector is one of the industries that are most at risk, while, at the same time, have vital importance for the functioning of society and the recovery of the national economy because it is the lifeblood of any economy. The impact of strict measures to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic was complex, but also negative for us. On the one hand, the need for the transport of goods, which is of key importance, grew, but in general, the demand for transport services declined.
Given that we have faced various challenges in previous years, we have quickly adapted to the new conditions for doing business, instructed our employees in regard to protection measures and created a work strategy that was sustainable and efficient. It was very important for our clients that we were able to continue to service them even in the most difficult conditions and meet their requirements. We are proud of all our employees who have been bravely fighting against all the challenges we face every day, and there has been a multitude of them. We are especially grateful to the drivers who have been doing their job in extremely difficult conditions for the past year.
We are proud of all our employees who have been bravely fighting against all the challenges we face every day
Transportation to the UK represents a significant portion of our business, and Brexit has caused difficulties for us in terms of our vehicles being retained for a number of hours due to huge bureaucratic regulations. Completing additional documentation for vehicles heading to the UK has also caused us to reorganize our business.
The emergence of a new British strain of the coronavirus has resulted in new measures, and the latest measure introduced by the Republic of Germany, which pertains to professional drivers, stipulates that they are obligated to register and submit a negative test to COVID-19 at the border, which, in turn, has resulted in major delays in transporting goods to Germany. Furthermore, our drivers are forced to wait outside for several hours every day, in bad weather, in order to do the test. By doing so, they are exposed to a higher risk of infection, which is certainly worrying.
You have an impressive fleet of vehicles, and in addition to national, you provide international transport services as well. Which countries do you cover and what type and level of services can your customers expect?
We are focused on services relating to the cold chain, namely, transporting goods in controlled conditions – food and pharmaceutical products by refrigerator trucks, as well as transporting liquid food by food tanks and various goods by trucks in ambient conditions. We are focused on providing transport to Western Europe, mainly Austria, Italy, Germany, the Benelux countries, Great Britain, Poland, France, Spain and Greece. We have satellite tracking for all our vehicles, so our customers can be constantly up to date where their goods are at any given moment. Our refrigerator trucks are equipped with the latest smart telematics, which allows us to constantly monitor the operation of their refrigeration parts. Our company is constantly investing in the quality of services we provide to our clients, and we possess quality certificates such as HACCP, ISO 9001, IFS, GDP and PHARMA CERTIFICATE.
In addition to transport, you also sell and rent construction machinery. What are the company’s results in this segment?
Since our company is focused on renting and selling new and used construction machines, we have a large variety of construction machines in stock, and we are able to satisfy even the most demanding inquiries.
Next year, the company will celebrate its 30th anniversary. What guides you in your business and what would you single out as the biggest challenge so far?
One of the biggest challenges is certainly the development of our company and surviving on the market for such a long time. Considering that our company was founded in 1992, we have gone through various stages of development to become what we are today. Every day, we strive to solidify our position in the market together. We want Perić Trans to be a brand recognizable for its values, which are persistence and perseverance in implementing plans, as well as responsibility and the desire to respect everything we agreed with our clients. Our family and employee’s commitment contributes to achieving that goal.
As a socially responsible company, you donated 3 million dinars towards medical equipment for the gravely ill patients suffering from the COVID-19 virus. Tell us a little more about it.
In order to support medical facilities and staff, we joined in the mutual fight against the coronavirus and donated 3 million dinars to the State Health Insurance Fund. We also appealed to other companies to join in and send as much help as they could.
You are a woman in what is considered to be “a man’s job”. What is the current situation in Serbia like in terms of availability of workforce in general and good drivers, in particular? How, as a society, can we contribute to the popularization of the transport business among the young generations of both genders?
Work, effort and knowledge are important in any job, which, regardless of gender, play a key role. Thus, in my case, by focusing on work and effort I achieved the expected results. I think that Serbia has a lot of good workforce, and that working conditions and the working environment are some of the important factors in finding them. The fluctuation of workers in the road transport sector is extremely large. The lack of professional drivers has been quite noticeable in recent years not only in Serbia but throughout Europe.
We have satellite tracking for all our vehicles, so our customers can be constantly up to date where their goods are at any given moment.
With the advent of social networks and various applications, communication between people has reached the highest level, and so drivers have various groups in which they can exchange experiences and give their positive or negative opinions about employers. Very often they succumb to misinformation and often change employers, hoping for a better salary or better working conditions in another company.
I think that the transport industry has experienced an expansion in the last few years, not only in Serbia, but also in Europe, and this is one of the reasons for the lack of drivers on the labour market. There are many companies in our sector which employ an impressive number of young people who are willing to fight the challenges that our industry brings.