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INTERVIEW with Franco Azzopardi: Leaving no one behind

Over the past months, no company has been spared by the COVID-19 pandemic and everyone has been jostled and roughed up by the brute force of the economic storm which has many wondering what the recovery curve will eventually look like. BusinessToday speaks to Franco Azzopardi, Chairman and CEO of Express Trailers, who explains how the company sought to preserve jobs and stakeholder value.

How have you been living this pandemic over the past months?

Everything was new and we watched a whole new situation unravel in front of us. Sudden safety measures started being introduced by the authorities as businesses shifted operations and communications and remote work became the order of the day.

Nothing was predictable any longer and the ‘not knowing’ made the whole scenario feel more uniquely surreal.

What was clear from the very outset was that Covid-19 was bound to distinguish the tough from the frail and the leaders from the fluff.

Probably, because everything happened so quickly and so suddenly that many were caught unawares.

Many companies were left fighting for survival. Some of them, even in the local logistics sector, have sadly been forced to let go some of their employees, dismantling teams that must have taken them years and lots of investment to build, train and nurture.

This, however, is never the ideal way how to deal with the current situation. Never as much as now do companies need to think long-term.

Because the long-term success of companies depends on the long-term success of their employees.

How has the free movement of goods been affected?

Free movement from one country to another began to change in a short time. Each country began to introduce its own procedures and we began to find that in order to continue traveling, we had to fill out various new forms and submit documents whenever our trucks came to cross from one country to another. We enter a country and find that the regulations have changed. All this also brought with it a great deal of uncertainty.

What about your drivers? It is a known fact that some of your drivers had to spend several days abroad and could not come back home.

COVID was a big challenge for our drivers, especially on a practical level. Everything was new and this brought fear and uncertainty.

Many countries started applying new procedures, overnight.

Suddenly, new documentation was needed that our drivers never knew about it before. There was the element of human contact that had to stop. Everything became uncertain.

There was also the emotional level. Let us not forget that drivers are also human and like everyone else, this was a completely new situation that brought with it fears and uncertainties.

Our drivers would spend hours driving on completely empty roads – something they had never dreamed of before – a situation that would make anyone feel sad and uncertain.

At one point, some drivers spent four months away. We did our best to make sure they were never alone because we kept in touch with them 24 hours a day and provided them with any help and information they needed.

How has this pandemic altered people’s perception of the logistics sector?

People have always viewed logistics as a disruptive sector and our fleet of trucks and trailers as a congesting nuisance on the roads.

But when Malta came to a standstill, undeniably, people realised how indispensable transport and logistics are as a critical conduit feeding consumer and industrial goods in and out of Malta.

As major operators, we remained committed to ensure that the Maltese kept finding their life’s essentials on the shelves especially food, medicines, and other health products.

We sought to keep open all channels to those countries that remained open and made sure our operations for import and export kept functioning by optimising our routes to remain viable and competitive.

As a CEO you advocate a lot in favour of your people…

Our people are our best resource. Not just employees, but logistics experts passing on their acquired knowledge and experience to newer employees.

In these trying and challenging times, it is very tempting for companies to stop investing in people training, risking demotivation and a gradual dismantling of their human power.

This pandemic helped us re-shape our notion of the term sustainability in that through ongoing investment and meticulous reorganisation of our internal processes and governance structures, the company was robustly positioned to commit itself to leaving no one behind.

How is the company looking at the coming months?

Our priority will remain our employees, our processes, and our core business. We are in this together and we will continue to do our best to come out of it together.

The challenges will not diminish, and we must remain grounded. We look at this time as an opportunity to learn more from this experience and to continue to assist all our clients in the best possible way. I am certain that in the end, we will come out of this situation, stronger than ever.

November 12, 2020/0 Comments/by James Corporate Identities
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https://expressgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dsc02912.jpg 456 684 James Corporate Identities https://expressgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Express-Trailers-Logo-1.png James Corporate Identities2020-11-12 14:59:142021-02-15 14:59:38INTERVIEW with Franco Azzopardi: Leaving no one behind
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Privacy Overview






EXPRESS TRAILERS Sr.l.u., as controller of the personal data pursuant art. 13 and 14 of the UE Regulation UE 679/2016 – General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), in compliance with the obligations dictated by the legislator for the protection of privacy, with the present wish to inform you of the use of your personal data and of your rights, communicating the following:

  1. CONTROLLER:


The controller is EXPRESS TRAILERS S.r.l.u., Fiscal Registration 00472780105, with registered office in Via XX Settembre, 5/7 sc. sx – 16121 GENOVA and Operations Office in Via Milano 40C/7 sc. B – 16126 GENOVA

  1. PERSONAL DATA OBJECT OF THE PROCESSING


Non-specific personal data (identification, accounting, financial, etc.).

  1. PURPOSE, LEGAL BASIS AND OBLIGATORY OR OPTIONAL NATURE OF TREATMENT


The source of the data referred to in point b is: Data provided by the interested party.

Main Purpose: CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS

Legal basis: the processing is necessary for the execution of a contract of which the interested party is a party or for the execution of pre-contractual measures adopted at the request of the same.

Possible consequences of failure to provide personal details: NON-EXECUTION OF THE CONTRACT

  1. RECIPIENTS


Exclusively for the aforementioned purposes, the data will be made known, in addition to the internal personnel units responsible for this, also to external collaborators in charge of their processing, whose list is available at the owner’s headquarters, by way of example only: consultants of the job, tax experts, transporters, agents etc …

  1. TRANSFERS OF DATA


Any transfers of Personal Data to Recipients outside the European Union will be performed only to execute the contract.

  1. STORAGE OF THE PERSONAL DATA


All personal data provided will be treated in accordance with the principles of lawfulness, correctness, relevance and proportionality, only with the methods, including computerized and online, strictly necessary to pursue the purposes described above. In any case, personal data will be stored for a period of time not exceeding that strictly necessary to achieve the indicated purposes. The personal data for which conservation is not necessary or for which storage is not required by current legislation, in relation to the stated purposes, will be deleted or transformed into an anonymous form. It should be noted that the information systems used to manage the information collected are configured, originally, in order to minimize the use of the data.

  1. YOUR RIGHTS


Please note that the interested party has the right to access the data concerning him / her at any time by directing your request directly to the Data Controller, using the contact details below:

EXPRESS TRAILERS S.r.l.u., with registered office in Via XX Settembre, 5/7 sc. sx – 16121 GENOVA end Operations Office in Via Milano 40C/7 sc. B – 16126 GENOVA – Tel. +39 010 2758006 – EMail info@expressgroup.it

In the same way, you can exercise the following rights with respect to the processing in question:

  • Right to transparency (Articles 5 and 12)


About how and why data is processed

  • Right to information (articles 12, 13, 14)



  • Right of access to data (art. 15)


To know what data is used, how and why

  • Right of rectification and integration (art. 16)



  • Right to oblivion and data deletion (Article 17)


If possible for the Owner, unless the terms of the conservation law are met

  • Limitation of treatment (art. 18)


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  • Right to data portability (Article 20)


For transfer to another Owner

  • Right to object to processing (Article 21)


If the treatment takes place with the purpose of profiling, marketing, historical, scientific and statistical treatments




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