For our latest Apollo member interview, we sat down with Dagcan Arkan in Istanbul, Turkey. He talked to us about the importance of the logistics industry and his company’s resilience and adaptability during the pandemic.
How did you get started in the logistics industry and what has your journey been like so far?
I graduated from one of the Logistics universities in Istanbul in 2012. Afterwards, I started applying for different freight forwarding companies and quickly found my first job, where I worked nearly 6 years. I stayed 2 years at my second job. In January of 2021, my journey at my current company started.
How did you experience the COVID-19 pandemic and how did you adapt your daily operations?
We could never have imagined this kind of business life before covid. During the pandemic, we learned how to use our time more valuably. Time and place is no longer important to us, we now know how to work anywhere, at any time. At the beginning of the pandemic, there were big equipment congestions which multiplied the rates for some traffic 5 or even 10 times. Surely, this new market affected us greatly but we learned how to live with it and grow our business day by day.
What do you like most about the industry and your job in particular?
I like the innovations that take place across the wide/global Transportation and Logistics Industry, the development of ‘Containerization’ is one thing and the development of technologies for freight/goods tracing is also another. In my job, I like solving problems, challenges and also advising the trades on the best possible solutions which provide positive bottom-lines.
If there is one thing that you would want to change to the logistics industry, what would it be and why?
That is really hard question to answer. If I had such power, I would develop one common platform for freight forwarders containing all details regarding rates, routings and service providers. We waste too much time on looking up DTB rates and available destinations. I also don’t support the carriers’ decision to replace freight forwarders, as they will never be able to handle the market’s demand on their own.
What do you like most about the industry and your job in particular?
Every shipment is a new learning opportunity, you can improve yourself day by day. Also, the logistics industry will never die. Even if we would move to another planet in the future, we would still need logistics to transfer everything.
How do you set yourself apart from your competitors?
Everybody can work in this industry when everything goes well. At our company, we always aim to do a perfect job by communicating and finding quick solutions for or clients in case of any problems. This is the main reason clients choose us and continue to work with us.
What do you like the most about being a member of our logistics network?
Being a member of your network helps us to grow our business fast and safely. You have very good members over the entire world and we mostly work with them all the time. This is quite good for us.
— Thank you, Dagcan !