Logistics service providers which guarantee worldwide distribution are aware that this promise can sometimes include delivery to remote, even “exotic” destinations – for example to the Faroe Islands located in the distant North Atlantic. Not long ago, a logistics problem occurred on the group of islands belonging to Denmark and the time:matters company, a special service provider for sameday, courier and emergency logistics belonging to the Lufthansa Group, was commissioned to solve it.

A truck that belongs to a large shipbuilding company’s vehicle fleet broke down in the afternoon with serious transmission damage. The shipbuilders immediately alerted the truck manufacturer’s local authorized repair shop; however, the necessary spare parts were not available on any of the islands or on the Danish mother country – instead they had to be transported from the vehicle manufacturer’s warehouse located in France. Despite the complexity of the problem there was no time to lose, since the shipbuilding engineers always greatly depend on each and every one of their vehicles.

time:matters solved the problem within the scope of its Spare Parts Logistics business (“time-critical spare parts logistics”). The service provider had reached a transport agreement with the truck manufacturer some time ago, which includes regular delivery to Scandinavian countries – including a delivery guarantee of up to 14:00 German time, at the latest. Since this agreement also applies to the Faroe Islands, albeit only in exceptional cases, the experts at time:matters’ headquarters in Neu-Isenburg, located near Frankfurt am Main, immediately started to plan the fastest possible shipping process. This process turned out (of course on that very same day) as follows:

A time:matters courier picked up the spare parts at 19:45 at the French warehouse and brought them directly to Airport Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden. Here, at the so-called Baden-Airpark, the cargo was loaded onto a time:matters plane that took off headed north at 21:00. After a brief layover in Erfurt, where additional urgent spare parts for another customer were loaded on board, the delivery that was destined for the North Atlantic arrived at Copenhagen-Roskilde around 1:00 at night. From here, the smaller of the Danish capital’s two airports, the parts were driven by delivery truck to the larger Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen, where the scheduled Atlantic Airways flight finally took off bound for the Faroe Islands at 8:55. Following a two-and-a-half-hour flight, the urgently awaited cargo reached the remote group of islands – less than 24 hours after the transmission damage occurred to the shipbuilder’s truck.

The successful examples demonstrates: time:matters ability to act flexibly, especially in the “time-critical spare parts logistics” area, coupled with the individual configurability of any given shipping process, can help to solve even the trickiest logistical challenges incredibly quickly.