Flevo Trade Service anniversary

This year marks a special moment for Flevo Trade Service, as we've been around for no less than 20 years! At the same time, it's the 10th anniversary for owner Dirk Visser. Two milestones that are inextricably linked. Over the past ten years, Flevo Trade Service has been transformed into what it is today: a fixed value in the fish industry in Urk and a well-known name at Customs and the NVWA. The story of that growth does not start with a business plan, but with an opportunity.

‍

From truck to customs

Dirk did not necessarily want to become an entrepreneur. It has grown that way. He started his career as a truck driver and worked in the transport world for years. In 2010, he stopped driving and became a cold-store manager in the fishing industry in Urk. There, he had to deal with customs warehousing: faulting goods without paying import duties directly. Practical work, in the middle of the logistics chain. But customers wanted more than storage. They also wanted to have their goods transported, which required a customs broker.

In 2014, Dirk decided to take a course himself and file customs declarations. What started as an extension of services within a transport environment quickly turned out to be taking its own direction. Within three months, the then owner of Flevo Trade Service asked if Dirk wanted to take over the company. The moment and this step made sense, Dirk got in with his partner André.

‍

The first years

When Dirk started, Flevo Trade Service had a handful of customers. That's why he did everything himself for the first two years. Declarations, customer contact and administration. A new owner means regaining trust. You're a different person, so you have to prove yourself. The growth started through word of mouth. This worked out well, especially in the fish industry, where trust and reputation weigh heavily.

The strength lay in being able to explain complex customs rules in a way that remains understandable. No unnecessary jargon, but clarity about what needs to be done and why. When the work could no longer be done alone, the first employee joined. This was followed by further expansion.

‍

Grow with the market

In ten years, the market changed dramatically. The fish industry in Urk developed from a sector that mainly worked with its own North Sea fish to an international trade chain. Today, fish is imported from all over the world, processed in Urk and then exported to destinations worldwide. Urk grew into the fishing hub in Europe.

Flevo Trade Service is in the middle of that movement. As a customs broker, we supervise the import, processing and export of goods that fall under increasingly complex regulations. The number of rules has increased, requirements have become stricter, and new legislation is regularly announced and introduced.

Within the team, it is therefore always consciously chosen not to wait for changes and to look ahead. As soon as authorities announce changes, we will investigate what this means for customers. Meetings are followed, processes are adjusted and, where necessary, bottlenecks are addressed via branch organizations. This proactive nature has ensured that the company is today seen as a specialist in the industry.

‍

Working smarter

In recent years, Dirk and his team have consciously focused on organizing processes within Flevo Trade Service in a smarter way. Not only to grow, but above all to control quality and risks, a concrete example of this is the development of our own software for licensing administration. Where an extensive Excel file had to be filled out manually for customs every month, the team saw that this had to be possible differently. It was error-prone, time-consuming and dependent on manual work. From that practical frustration, the idea arose to build a system that can automatically generate this administration. Not a standard external solution, but something that is fully in line with the way Flevo works.

Today, that permit administration is generated in one click. It provides an overview, reduces the risk of errors and ensures that immediate insight can be provided during checks. For Dirk, this is typical of how he wants to develop the company: not dwell on how things always went, but improve processes as soon as they become difficult in practice. For him, growth not only means more customers, but also working more professionally and in a more manageable way.

‍

Looking ahead

Dirk's ambition for the next ten years is clear: to continue to grow within the Dutch fish industry and become twice as big as it is today. But one thing shouldn't change. The accessibility, personal contact and short lines of communication that customers are used to.