Customer:
Club Med
Industry:
Hotel and Hospitality
Solution:
An end-to-end hotel logistics service that ensured efficient hotel operations
Results:
- Time-critical delivery and customs clearance of all furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E)
- Establishment of a robust supply chain capable of handling complexity for the opening on time
Founded in 1950, Club Med - previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive vacations. The resort company either owns or operates 70 premium resorts in more than 30 countries. across the globe. In April 2018, Club Med announced that it would open an Exclusive Collection (5-Star) resort in Miches, Dominican Republic – the first Club Med resort in the Caribbean in twenty-five years. The newest eco-chic resort would consist of 335 guestrooms across four boutique villages (hotel with a hotel) in an idyllic environment. The enormous undertaking required a smoothly functioning supply chain which can handle complexity, and they knew they could rely on Kuehne+Nagel to provide them exactly what they need.
Kuehne+Nagel has had a steady collaboration with Club Med’s Purchasing and Logistics department in Miami. After multiple meetings and participation in a rigorous bid, we were awarded this project. One of the key differentiators was our Order Management System (OMS) that allowed the Club Med team to have full visibility and control over the status of all the orders. The scope of work consisted of the complete handling of the shipments to the job site, including customs clearance.
Race against time
The work on the resort began in January 2019, with soft launch planned for November same year. This meant that like a well-oiled machine, we had to work extremely quickly to purchase and ship their merchandise from different parts of the world. Shipments started to flow from the US, Mexico, Europe, and Asia – mainly China, Indonesia and Philippines. The main port of unloading was Santo Domingo (Caucedo and Rio Haina), but we were also able to send some cargo directly to the Punta Cana airport, which is sixty miles away from Miches. Meanwhile, the cargo from USA and Canada was centralised at our Miami warehouse.
One of our biggest challenges in this race against time was quickly getting the furniture coming from Indonesia. Normally, this kind of shipment takes 40 days to arrive but not this time as the furniture had to be on site as quickly as possible. To reduce the transit time, we got the cargo from Surabaja in Indonesia, and transshipped it to Jakarta, Singapore and Spain for its direct sailing to the Dominican Republic. To fasten the process, our teams completed the new transit papers that were required at record speed.
Grand opening
Finally, on February 6, 2020, all our hard work came to fruition – the President of the Dominican Republic, Daniello Medina, inaugurated the much-anticipated Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda resort, for which over 1,200 jobs had been created in the area.
In a span of 11 months of working on Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda, we successfully shipped 652 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), numerous LCL containers, and even air freight for the emergency cargo. Throughout the collaboration, what mattered the most to us was protecting and supporting the vision our customer had for this resort. After all, Club Med was passionate about bringing joy into the lives of their customers, and we were passionate about doing the same for ours.
