Daniel Niederhauser tells you in an interesting interview how the up-and-coming company TTS was founded and which future topics are most relevant for forwarding companies and their customers.
How did the successful company TTS in Buchs come about?
Like many things in life, this is also due to a happy coincidence. About 21 years ago the company of the former employer was sold. This gave me the opportunity to reorient myself. Originally, the idea was to apply to a production company in logistics.
At the time, the TransInvest Group was already well respected with its companies in the railway sector in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. But there was no suitable counterpart for Western Europe. So it came to the request if we would like to fill this gap together with a company of the Group. After some deliberation I agreed and so TTS in Buchs was founded. It was the right decision.
Daniel Niederhauser, Managing Director of TTS
Daniel did his forwarder’s training and has continuously put his knowledge into practice. Since 1999, he has been the successful Managing Director of TTS AG. During his career so far, he has been able to work abroad for lengthy periods of time, such as in Belgium, Greece, Hungary and Austria. Privately, he has also enjoyed his trips to France and Australia.
How have orders changed in recent years?
The rapid changes of today are also constant companions in logistics. More and more European railways are sceptical about single wagonload traffic – our basis for 20 years. Supply and volumes are being reduced, freight prices increased and competitiveness restricted. As a Swiss company in particular, we bear high site rents and wage costs in Swiss francs. The turnover for transports is in Euro or USD. Optimum control of cost accounting is therefore important. This also applies in particular to exchange rate fluctuations.
Digitalization is an ongoing issue for both the railways and for us. The innovations in the digital field make our workflows much easier. For example, freight documents are now created and transmitted quickly – all electronically. I can no longer think of the typewriter as I used to. If there was an error on the document at that time, the game started all over again. Now a few push of a button is enough.
What makes TTS special?
What was a special highlight for you?
Something very special was definitely the order for the Olympic Games in Greece in 2004. At that time we were able to organize special transports of several articulated railcars from Switzerland to Greece for a customer. They transported competitors and spectators back and forth between the airport and the Olympic venues. The (very) tight delivery time and the many requirements to be met made this order very special. At that time there were several vehicle manufacturers who had brought articulated railcars to Athens. Those of our customers were the only ones who arrived on time and worked.
Which future topics are most relevant for freight forwarding companies and their customers?
The exchange of goods with Eurasia certainly has great opportunities. A few years ago, the Silk Road was also revitalized in terms of railway transportation. Today, several block trains to and from China are operated by rail every week. Our group offers the train connection from Yiwu on the Silk Road. Read more about this on our website: ChinaExpressDraGo
Rail transport is thus also experiencing an upswing in Central Europe. We can benefit from this for our customers and coordinate processing in Europe by rail.