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The Balkan wars brought a decade or more of horror to the people within the former Yugoslavia’s borders. Much of the region flared into violence as one country shattered into many. No one was safe. Anything could happen.
Although the battles were contained within the region, war brought upheaval to neighboring countries and beyond. Trucks that used to carry goods through Yugoslavia could no longer travel the highways, cutting off distribution routes between Northern Europe and Turkey.
Shipping agency Samer & Co. Shipping of Trieste, Italy, offered a solution—to move trucks safely, easily, and economically by the “highway of the sea,” from Italy to Turkey, skirting the danger zones.
“They put the trucks on a ro-ro, which is a roll-on/roll-off vessel,” explains Andrea Garwood, Samer’s USA Country Manager. Drivers in Istanbul or Trieste would drive their trucks onto the ferries, then leave for the airport, and fly comfortably and safely to the destination port. There, they would get back behind the wheels of their vehicles, drive them off the ferries, and continue their journeys.
Though the wars are long over, Samer’s 14 ro-ro ferries—the success of which allowed Samer to expand into dominant roles in almost every facet of shipping in the region—still sail 14 times a week, carrying 200,000 trucks a year from ports in Italy to ports in Istanbul and southeast Turkey.
Today, Garwood says, the ferries are just one small part of Samer’s operations. She says her own focus at Samer is on global freight forwarding, primarily for SMEs. Much of that is by sea, although Samer also works via air and land.
“We do a lot of container shipping through Genoa, La Spezia, Bovino, and Civitavecchia, in Rome,” says Garwood. “We negotiate the rates daily with the different carriers like Zim, Hapag-Lloyd, and MSC.” That, she says, means SMEs can get better rates through Samer than they might get elsewhere, especially for shipments involving Italy and the Far East, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. Whether an SME is moving a large number of containers on a regular basis, a single pallet every few months, or anything in-between, Samer customizes its services to the shipper’s needs.
“We do everything from picking up the goods at their factory to delivering it to the door where it needs to go,” says Garwood. “Customs, export formalities—everything is included. So it’s a one-stop shop. They don’t have to think about anything.”
While Samer’s home base is Italy, and most of its services involve Italian ports, Garwood says that, as a global freight forwarder, the company also does a good deal of cross-booking for shipments that don’t make stops in the home country.
“Samer & Co. Shipping is part of a network called CPN, which stands for Cargo Partners Network, and that allows us to provide service anywhere in the world even where I don’t have an office.”
To qualify for and retain membership in CPN, companies must abide by a strict code of ethics, which includes assuring rapid and impeccable customer service, abiding by all stated conditions of trade and regulations, and honoring all agreements. Those who don’t measure up go on a “black list,” says Garwood.
“Being part of the CPN network enables me to provide really high quality service even where I don’t have an office,” says Garwood. “I can guarantee if you need to ship something from, let’s say Rome to Bangalore, you’ve got no problem because my agent at the destination is going to give the type of service that I would give.”
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| CRV52LL/3AS NTN | 31.75 | 82.55 | 46 |
| CRV48LL/3AS NTN | 31.75 | 76.2 | 46 |