Brief history of Vets Supplies...
1948
The history of Vets Shipstores goes back to 1948, when Alphonsus Vets opened a grocer’s shop on Lange Dijkstraat in Antwerp, near the port.
While the firm’s founder continued to look after sales and the increasing volume of orders, his sons Frans and Jozef looked after purchasing, logistics and the administration of Vets Shipstores.
Alphonsus Vets realised early on that a sales strategy requires a great deal of sensitivity, and he excelled at responding to his customers’ requirements. It was quite natural for him to expand his range of foodstuffs with beverages and tobacco. The almost casually uttered sales idea of "I will get you what you need, quickly and at a good price", has since developed into a sophisticated company philosophy of: "What can I do for you?" That in itself reflects an exemplary willingness to help, which has led to the company’s present position of ship’s chandler.
A reliable service, high-quality goods and down-to-earth prices are the pillars on which this philosophy is built.
1950
Soon he was supplying many vessels and the business was growing, the retail trade became a wholesale trade and his shop became a warehouse.
As early as 1950 the company was bursting at the seams. New premises and warehouses had to be rented.
The company’s new base is the "Hanseatic House" on Connection Dock 12.
The family’s home was also established in the immediate vicinity to ensure constant accessibility. Warehouse space at the Royal Stocks House is available for bonded goods.
The company grew and the range was expanded systematically to include basic non-food items, as well as luxury goods, audio equipment and even electrical spares. Apart from supplying innumerable ships, Vets Shipstores was also making deliveries to military forces, embassies and diplomats’ households.
1975
In 1971 Jozef and Isabella Vets took over managerial responsibility. In the same year their daughter Vera began working in the parents’ business.
Once again in 1975, the company was moved: Verversrui 17-19 was the new location in Antwerp. The offices, warehouses and cold storage plants were brought together on the same site.
Finally the technical department was developed and some agency arrangements entered into for chandler’s goods: Atlas Copco (shipping) Karberg & Hennemann filter technology, Glasdon lifebelt boxes and P. Merten life-saving equipment.
The economic recession in 1978 did not leave Vets Shipstores unscathed. That year Jozef Vets died and his wife had to steer the corporate ship through a heavy sea. However, Isabella Vets received a great deal of support from her loyal and dedicated employees.
Her son, Jan, joined the company. Like his father and his grandfather he went down to the port personally, visited old customers and canvassed new ones, always making sure that the name Vets Shipstores guarantees good service and high quality, an attitude shared by all employees and applied rigorously throughout the company. With this moral strength as support, the company survived the crisis.
During these difficult times, Annemie, the youngest in the family, also joined the business.
1990
In 1990 the management decided to move into a larger building near the port. 5000 m2 were now available for offices and warehouses. But this central location, Quay 259, was more than a new address, it was the signal for a turning tide, for innovation in the widest possible sense.
The nineties brought major changes. Vets Shipstores was transformed into a public limited company and consequently the whole structure of what used to be a relatively conventional family business also changed.
Antwerp and its surroundings were too small a market for the released dynamics of a healthy enterprise. Vets Shipstores entered the stage of international competition with enthusiasm and an aggressive marketing strategy.
Shipping lines and ship management companies throughout the world were visited and canvassed. From the home port of Antwerp the area supplied was extended to the whole of Europe, focusing on Dutch and German seaports. Here the company was able to flourish on account of the reputation of Vets, and the customer base grew considerably. As a result, the whole logistics had to be adapted to the new requirements. Modern systems and a subtle staffing increase allowed the company to live up to its name, because the key principle of grandfather Alphonsus continued unchanged: Vets means fast, reliable, good quality and good value.
It was the turn of the third generation.
1995
Catering:
Since maritime traffic is subject to an ever-growing number of standards and regulations, (such as ILO convention) more and more Catering and Hygiene is becoming the focus of everyone’s attention, even outsiders.
In 1995 Vets Shipstores expanded its range of activities by starting up a catering management United Catering: World-wide provisioning of Ferries and cargo vessels at a fixed food rate per crewmember per day.
To-day Vets has strategic alliances with catering experts offering products, know-how and expertise to the maritime and offshore sector as well as to international authorities.
Owner’s spare parts service:
The warehousing facilities in Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg were extended so that they could be available as a collecting point for Owner’s Spare Parts that the customer has ordered directly from the manufacturer.
The latter sends the ordered goods to Vets Shipstores’ most convenient warehouse. There the external and internal orders are grouped and delivered to the ship together with the stores as a single consignment and at the right time.
2009
More than 60 years later Vets Shipstores is an internationally renowned family business. The store on Dijkstraat has developed into an ultramodern service operation, with its success being due to continuity, a basic corporate philosophy, courage and tenacity. To a large extent the company’s long serving employees have also contributed to this success. Their care and sensitivity have meant that they have played their part in ensuring harmonious communication with the customers and the suppliers. Vets Shipstores was and remains a family business, even if the levels of turnover achieved nowadays are of an order that the firm’s founder would not have dared dream of when he was waiting at the port for the ships to come in.
Apart from supplying hotels, embassies and diplomats’ households, as well as barracks and other major facilities, the mean area of activity of Vets Shipstores remains that of ship’s chandlers in all Western European ports.
Flexibility and adaptation are the cornerstones of success for Vets Shipstores. Whatever the customer needs is supplied, the customer’s wishes are met and if the customer is unsure, he is given professional advice and expert guidance.
Backed by a wide range of reliable suppliers and manufacturers as well as large stocks, Vets Shipstores has created a basis that allows it to serve its customers with state-of-the-art methods.
The internal organisation is lean and linear, but flexible enough to leave the various departments the responsibility and room for manoeuvre that individual customer service and support demand. Administration and handling are combined in a single unit. That means short communication paths for the whole process in both directions.
After all, another strength of Vets Shipstores is intensive contact with customers, shipping lines, shipping agents and management companies as well as with the persons receiving the goods on board. The friendly, almost familiar dialogue is the human component in this operation that is predominantly controlled by automated systems.
Success has never been a reason to rest, but rather a reason to consider how this achievement can be safeguarded in the long term. Vets will therefore also be open to new developments and processes in the context of its philosophy and its beginnings, so that it can continue to live up to its image of thoroughness and quality in future.
Vets Shipstores wants to offer its customers a complete service. That means being a reliable partner and thinking along the same lines as the customer to solve all provisioning problems in the best possible way because Vets Shipstores delivers and procures basically anything.
Absolute reliability, flexibility and a genuine willingness to be of service, in conjunction with high quality and a healthy price-performance ratio mean that Vets Shipstores is a brand name among ship’s chandlers.
