10 years ITS: With heart and soul on the road

ITS International Transport & Shipping Ltd. was founded 27 years ago. In 2009 Massimo Bianco took over the company, together with Javier Sanchez, Fabrizio Cassai and Patric Bund.

After ten years at the head of ITS, the CEO looks back:

1.    ITS has moved more than 500 million kg of goods in the last ten years - how does it feel?

Heavy! (laughs)

2.    Back to the beginning: At that time, what were your motives for starting your own business and buying a transport company?

Javier Sanchez and I always worked so hard and put so much heart and soul into every project that one day we thought: why not start our own company? Furthermore, our small team of two had organized the transports for the EURO 2008, this feeling was so strong that we thought that as employees, there would never be a greater challenge for us to face. We wanted to grow, do something for ourselves, we wanted something of our own.

3.    Javier Sanchez, Fabrizio Cassai and Patric Bund are your partners. How is the daily routine between four partners ?

To have a good team is the most important thing for me. Javi, Fabrizio and I were already working together at that time, we brought Patric on board a year later. We are very different and therefore complement each other very well. It is essential for me to share the responsibility and daily challenges with great partners. We inspire each other, but we also challenge and support each other. And, I must admit, we are lucky, because with four partners, it must work both on a personal and business level. And that's what it does for us!

4.    What was your vision when you bought the company, and is it still the same today, ten years later?

Already as a child, I dreamed of having my own company. So, ten years ago, I had actually reached my goal. (laughs) At the time of the acquisition, we took over five employees, today we are 22 – incredible! A great team! Back then, we wanted to be small but specialized. This has not changed one tiny bit.

5.    You invest a lot of heart and soul into every project. After 10 years of ITS and a total of 30 years in the transport business, you still accompany personally each one of your customers. If a traveller is "stuck" somewhere in the world, you are personally there, day and night, to solve the problem. Where do you get this energy? What is your secret? Your motivation?

30 years of transport business - that leaves its mark! (laughs) I have a lot of energy by nature. But in fact, my wife is the driving force. She and my three children are the compensation for all my hard work. Furthermore, I am always driven by the satisfaction of my customers. The esteem and the beautiful relationships I have been able to establish with my clients - this is the reason I do what I do.

6.    You mentioned once that you have always had a passion for foreign countries and cultures. Was this also a reason for the choice of the business sector?

No, not at all – initially, I even wanted to be an actor. But my parents wanted me to have a solid education. I thought about a hairdresser apprenticeship - at that time, I still had beautiful curls! (laughs) Then, I got the opportunity to do a trial apprenticeship in a forwarding company and the rest is history: commercial school, forwarding apprenticeship, Argentina, Indonesia, then my wife and I made a three-year trip around the world.

7.    What were the most complicated and the most emotional things that you have transported?

(Thinks briefly) Goats from Turkey! (laughs) The driver had to stop every two hours, to feed the animals and let them run out on a meadow. This was, I believe, the most complicated and time-consuming transport. The most recent project was very emotional for us: the bridge model for Genoa by Santiago Calatrava. Even though Marco Bucci won the competition, it was still an honour for us. The transports for the EURO championship, concerts, opera houses, Art Basel are always great. It is nice to be allowed to work for well-known artists. For us, every transport for relief organizations is also very important. It's a great feeling to know that we are transporting something that does good