How Parvum tenfolded imports and regained control with Cargoplot

From confusing sailing schedules and slow terminal handling to maximum grip and transparency on the import of mobility aids

If you're active in the market for medical and mobility aids, a reliable supply chain isn't a luxury, it's a hard requirement. The Dutch family business Parvum guarantees daily that high-quality, lightweight and MDR-certified rollators reach their customers. But as demand grew and the company scaled significantly, co-founder Etienne Klein and his team ran into the limits of the traditional shipping market. Fixed agreements turned out not to be so fixed, insight was lacking, and delays were the rule rather than the exception.

The switch to Cargoplot brought the necessary peace of mind, transparency, and days of turnaround time won at the quay. This is Parvum's story.

The ambition: taking control of your own import

Parvum is a close-knit family business. As co-founder, Etienne has day-to-day operational leadership of the team. That includes the entire container logistics operation: from booking shipments to import, export, and keeping an eye on competitive rates.

In its early years, Parvum sourced its aids mainly through large German wholesalers. While that was a safe start, Etienne quickly realized there were opportunities to be had.

"At some point we thought we could do it better ourselves by importing directly," Etienne says. "And that turned out to be true."

What started as a modest volume rapidly multiplied tenfold into a substantial annual container flow, a scale-up that made the move to a larger premises in Houten necessary. But the larger the volumes grew, the more pressing the lack of control in the traditional logistics chain became.

The pain: unnecessary delays and a lack of transparency

To manage the import flow, Parvum initially tried the well-worn paths. Etienne worked with traditional freight forwarders and opened direct accounts with major shipping lines. The result? A constant source of frustration.

• No visibility into the chain: it was a guessing game as to the exact status of shipments. Why was a container pushed back? And why did the ship first take a detour via England before heading to the Netherlands?
• Slow processing at the terminal: once a ship arrived, it often took traditional parties up to seven days before a container was actually off the terminal.
• Constant noise: delays were brushed off with vague excuses.

For Etienne, the lack of reliability eventually reached a boiling point. "The moment I got a call for the tenth time saying, 'Yes, it's going to take another ten days', I was done with it," he explains. In a market where customers depend on medical aids, prolonged stock shortages simply aren't an option.

The solution: a dashboard that actually works, and proactive advice

Etienne went looking for a modern solution and found Cargoplot through an online search. "In that sense, you were quite the trailblazer," Etienne notes. "You have a really handy, interactive dashboard where you can just see everything, where you can chat, and where everything is available hands-on. And most importantly: it's a dashboard that actually works."

Beyond the digital tooling, it was above all the human factor that came as a relief for Parvum. The Cargoplot team thinks proactively throughout the logistics process:

• Smart choices in urgent situations: when Parvum needs a shipment on-site quickly, contact person Toby immediately advises booking with specific carriers that are performing optimally at that moment.
• Optimizing free demurrage days: for larger shipments arriving at the same time, Cargoplot looks at carriers offering extra free days. This way Parvum retains the flexibility to collect containers in phases, without getting stuck with sky-high storage costs.

"With other companies, you only find out how many demurrage days you get once the cargo is delivered. At Cargoplot, that's clearly built into the platform, and we're warned proactively. That's a lot more hands-on," says Etienne.

The result: time saved, maximum grip, and room to grow

Since partnering with Cargoplot, Parvum has fully tightened up its logistics chain:

• 5 days saved at the terminal: where it used to take up to seven days for a container to be released after the ship's arrival with previous parties, it's usually settled within two days via Cargoplot.
• Precious time saved: hours of pointless emailing, calling, and chasing information are a thing of the past. Hours that Etienne now reinvests directly into growing Parvum further.
• Peace of mind and reliability: Parvum knows where its shipments are and can proactively manage its own inventory.

When asked how he'd describe Cargoplot to other entrepreneurs, Etienne doesn't need to think long:

"It's a slick company with a good dashboard that lets you plan your shipments quickly and clearly, without having to call or email too much. They do what they say, and they say what they do."