The Mover December 2012

22 The Mover ● December 2012 ● www.themover.co.ukPROFILE: MOBELTRANSPORT DANMARK● Swimming in international waters – Gunnar Moeskjaer.A BIG FISHMobeltransport Danmark is the largest moving company inDenmark, a member of the Danish Moving Federation, theonly member of OMNI in the country and one of only a handfulof FIDI Denmark members. During a recent visit to Copenhagen,Steve Jordan dropped by for a chat with the company’s head ofGroup International Business, Gunnar Moeskjaer.Drive up outside theMobeltransport Danmarkbuilding in Copenhagen andits hard not to be impressed.It’s a large, modern building in a bustlingindustrial area close to the highwaynetwork and yet within reach of the brightlights of the city. It’s the ideal spot.HistoryNiels Bach was the 3rd generation ownerof the Aarhus-based Bach Mobeltransportcompany. In 1996 he merged his companywith Salicath Express, one of Copenhagen’sold established moving companies thatwas founded in 1878, to form Bach &Salicath. In 2001 Niels bought Salicath’spart of the business and in 2002 went onto acquire Mobeltransport Danmark tocreate the largest moving company inDenmark for both domestic andinternational. The company also owns aseparate brand for domestic moving –Lyngby Flytteforretning acquired in 2007- which is very well respected in the cityand with which it liveries some of itsvehicles. Scan Transport in SouthernSpain was also purchased in 2007 and istoday an important part in the company’sEuropean Logistic set up. Today thecompany employs around 200 people inDenmark, has a turnover of around 200million Krona (£22million), and nowembraces relocation, and office movingincluding space planning and projectmanagement.Gunnar explained that the internationalmarket in Denmark was quite small withonly a few big names. The company hasmade a particular name for itself in themedical sector. Mobeltransport Danmarksuffered, just as did everyone else, in therecession. However in 2007 it signed afour-year contract with the foreign ministrywhich helped it through the difficult years.The contract was lost to Crown earlierthis year. “Our whole society has had tosave money and the government is thesame,” said Gunnar.There then ensued a long conversationabout quality, pricing, procurement, etc.– one that has been had in everyboardroom worldwide. Although Gunnarbelieves that his company’s record forquality speaks for itself, he admits that hetoo succumbed to cutting prices tosecure the contract. “I think we are all ourown worst enemies. We knew it wouldbe tight so we dived too.” Of course thetrick is knowing just how far you can dive:cutting too far is usually worse, long term,than not cutting enough.QualityWhen it comes to quality, Gunnar’scompany ticks all the boxes on the RFPforms. It also has FIDI/FAIM, has recentlyachieved ISO 14001, and in Octoberannounced that it has signed the UnitedNation Global Compact reaffirming itslong tradition of working with corporateresponsibility. But to Gunnar, quality isnot a box-ticking exercise. “We spend alot of time building relationships,” hesaid, although he acknowledges thatrelationships in corporate moving are