Spring 2023 - sensational news from Southeast Europe: Xella's first shipment across the Danube was a success. 920 tons of calcium silicate blocks in just one shipment from Serbia to Romania was a big step towards fewer trucks on the road, fewer costs, and fewer CO2 emissions. Almost a year later, another transport full of Silka blocks and Rapid bricks docked twice at the port of Giurgiu, Romania.

Deliveries rise and fall with external conditions
Country Supply Chain Manager Sebastian Dima is the man who moves products across South East Europe, navigating and improving every logistical aspect at Xella Romania, including shipments along the Danube river. Dima has a whole team involved in the process of moving goods along one of Europe's largest rivers, coordinating processes with internal departments such as sales, finance, logistics and customer service, as well as external partners during transport.

Although the war in Ukraine has been raging for more than two years, its logistical effects have become increasingly apparent over the past year. With the Russians blocking the Black Sea route and the Ukrainians having to send all their exports down the Danube, finding available and affordable ships are a real challenge.

Finally, in early spring market conditions changed overnight. Dima and his team needed to get the shipment out the door as quickly as possible. "Everything had to be organized in just two weeks. We were lucky that our colleagues in Serbia had stock ready for us," says Dima.

Sending more goods in less time and saving money
A lot of administrative work had to be done in a short amount of time: "We had to talk a lot about port organizations. You need free space on the docks and vehicles for loading and unloading," says Dima. In the end, everything worked out: in less than half the usual time, they completed a convoy of two ships, each carrying more than 1,000 tons-twice the weight of the first shipment: "With more volume, you can negotiate better prices for transportation and tax formalities," so this time there were two ships on the Danube, one behind the other.
As another improvement after 2023, they not only used two ships, but also changed the type. This time they chose a ship with one large compartment that could be unloaded with a forklift to speed up the loading process. As a result, unloading was completed in less than two days, compared to three days for the 2023 shipment.

How slow ship deliveries make for fast customer service
Even if a ship takes days to arrive in Romania, the huge volume fills the warehouse - and allows Xella to deliver even faster to the customer. "This means better customer service, because when they send the order, we can have the product on site in just one day," Dima describes. "If they order a truck from Serbia, we need a couple of days." Because Serbia is not in the EU, large shipments like the current one are very worthwhile, Dima explains: "Instead of paying 84 times for taxes on trucks, we pay only one time. And we also save a lot of time and documents with the shipments," he adds.

Third shipment scheduled for fall
There is always room for improvement: for faster unloading and more flexible stacking of pallets, the next goal is to use ships with a larger surface area. Larger platforms will help unload multiple pallets with larger cranes.
After saving 107 tons of CO2 this time, future shipments will help reduce Xella's carbon footprint even further, says Dima: "Using river transport allows us to make huge improvements - in this case, freeing up 84 trucks at the border and on the highways."
Because the Danube's water level is very low in the summer, another ship is likely to leave in the fall, when the threat of rain means more possible weight - and therefore a better price.

The Country Supply Chain Manager is in constant contact with the market. He and his team must always be flexible and quick to react - and this time they have already shown that they are experts in this field. And even though Dima would prefer to see river deliveries without pressure in the future, he is proud of his team: "this is what I call 'flexible logistics': we know we can do it even better now that we have more experience."