»Due to the plant closures, which in the automotive industry sometimes have had advance notice of only 24 hours – the transport companies are faced with cancelled orders and have had to absorb the downtime costs.« Simeon Breuer, CEO of L.I.T. AG and Managing Director of L.I.T. Speditions GmbH »Durch die Werks- schließungen – welche in der Automobilindustrie teilweise mit einem Vorlauf von nur 24 Stunden angekündigt werden – stehen die Transportunternehmen vor stornierten Aufträgen und bleiben auf den Ausfallkosten sitzen.« Simeon Breuer Vorstand der L.I.T. AG und Geschäftsführer der L.I.T. Speditions GmbH MR FELS: CAN YOU STILL REMEMBER THE BEGINNING OF THE COVID-PANDEMIC? Fokke Fels: I will never forget this time in my life. We had been hearing in the news for some time that this novel virus was spreading and that it had also arrived in Germany. And then everything happened very quickly. In the middle of March, the automotive industry suddenly ceased operations, which meant a 30 percent drop for us. The retail sector also had to go into lockdown. This meant that several 100 trucks came to a standstill, about 1,000 employees suddenly had nothing to do and our sales plummeted. And because of the restrictions on border crossing from Eastern Europe, we were short of drivers – that was already a very demanding time. But we were prepared. TO WHAT EXTENT? This is now the third unforeseeable situation that the L.I.T. Group has experienced. Starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall 32 years ago, through to the financial crisis from 2007 to 2009, to the current Covid-pandemic. It was precisely from the collapse of the banking system that we drew conclusions. At that time, 60 to 70 percent of our business was focused on just one industrial sector, the automotive industry. In order to remain viable, we had to diversify. In the meantime, we are now at home in almost every sector. Over the years, we have added DIY store logistics, the FMCG sector, beverage logistics, eCommerce, the paper, plastics, glass and packaging industries, as well as steel and coil logistics. These crises were like a catalyst for us, so to speak. So when the pandemic broke out, we already had a certain degree of self-confidence due to our previous resilience. We have often proved in the past how flexibly we can respond. This is something we have learned that can no longer be taken away from us. WHAT IMPETUS DOES THE L.I.T. GROUP DRAW FROM THE PANDEMIC? Herr Fels hat die Werksschließungen angedeutet. Herr Breuer, vor welche Herausforderungen haben diese L.I.T. gestellt? Simeon Breuer: Als Kontraktlogistiker, aber insbesondere als Spedition, sind wir in viele Supply Chains unserer Kunden ein- gebunden. Da muss ein Zahnrad ins andere greifen. Bricht aber eines weg – wie die Versorgung von Produktionsstätten mit be- stimmten Bauteilen oder Materialien – hat das direkte Folgen für alle anderen Player. Durch die Werksschließungen – welche in der Automobilindustrie teilweise mit einem Vorlauf von nur 24 Stunden angekündigt werden – stehen die Transportunter- nehmen vor stornierten Aufträgen und bleiben auf den Ausfall- kosten sitzen. Denn das für Linieneinsätze geschulte Personal und das speziell angepasste Equipment können sie nicht ein- fach kurzfristig anderweitig einsetzen. Inwiefern hat sich die Lage inzwischen erholt? Die Produktionen liefen Anfang dieses Jahres zwar wieder an, allerdings fordern uns die Halbleiterengpässe nun seit Monaten heraus, sodass immer wieder Werke geschlossen werden. Da- mit einhergeht, dass See-Container zu einem raren Gut gewor- den, die Preise in die Höhe geschossen und die Lieferzeiten ex- plodiert sind. Daher kann ich leider noch nicht sagen, dass wir das Problem Werksschließungen bewältigt haben. Diese Aus- fälle werden uns auch noch die nächsten Monate beschäftigen. Thanks to Covid, we have become more digital, more courageous and even more solution- oriented. After all, as a company we had to find solutions to a wide variety of problems. All of our business areas were affected by the crisis, albeit in different ways. While eCommerce exploded because people were sud- denly buying much more online, the automotive sector was – and still is – at a partial standstill. Meanwhile, our administrative staff was asked to work without an office and personal contact. Key- word: home office. For their own protection, we have rigorously sent those colleagues, whose duties allowed it, to their desks at home. For this purpose, we provided them with laptops and created the necessary IT infrastructure so they could access our systems from home, and we learned to work effectively via video conferencing. We want to continue this new way of working – the New Normal – in the future. MR FELS ALLUDED TO THE PLANT CLOSURES. MR BREUER, WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE THESE POSED FOR L.I.T.? Simeon Breuer: As a contract logistics provider, and especially as a freight forwarder, we are involved in many of our customers‘ supply chains. Each gear has to mesh with the others. But if one of the gears breaks down – such as the supply of production sites with certain components or materials – this has direct con- sequences for all the other players. Due to the plant closures – which in the automotive industry are sometimes announced only 24 hours in advance – the transport companies are faced with cancelled orders and are left to bear the downtime costs. This is because the staff trained for line operations and the specially adapted equipment cannot simply be used elsewhere for other jobs at short notice. TO WHAT EXTENT HAS THE SITUATION RECOVERED IN THE MEANTIME? Production started up again at the beginning of this year, but the semiconductor bottlenecks have been challenging us for months now, so the factories are being closed again and again. This is accompanied by the fact that sea containers have become a rare commodity, prices have skyrocketed and delivery times have exploded. Therefore, unfortunately, I cannot say yet that we have overcome the problem of plant closures. These failures will continue to occupy us for the next few months. 9