Young Logistics Team Harnessing Tech To Transform The Face Of An Industry

Twenty-somethings Joe Jeffery and Matt Dawson set up Zelir Logistics from their bedrooms just over two years ago in 2023.

Since then, the customs clearance and freight forwarding company, based in Ashford, Kent, has expanded its team to eight people, widened its service offer, moved to bigger offices twice, and grown 20-fold in terms of net profit.

They say their new tech-savvy approach to the sector is helping to fuel the company’s rapid expansion.

They’re focused on embracing AI and new technologies, including designing their own tech tools, to speed up lengthy manual processes so that tasks can now be completed in minutes, instead of hours.

Zelir is a member of BIFA and FIATA, was one of the youngest companies to obtain AEO accreditation, and has an exceptionally large transit guarantee due to HMRC’s trust in their processes.

All these factors mean they can respond to customer requests quickly and efficiently. As a result, Zelir is quickly gaining a reputation for its high service standards, with most of its new business being gained through recommendation and word of mouth.

Frustrated with lack of progress in logistics

Joe (25) and Matt (23) founded the company after being frustrated with the lack of progress they were experiencing in the customs and freight industry.

“I worked at a customs agent before and the sticking point was always tech,” Joe said. “It was clear to me that processes could easily be improved but there is sometimes a reluctance to change things that have been done a certain way for many years.

 “Eventually, Matt and I got together and decided to set up our own customs and freight forwarding business. We wanted to implement new technologies to speed things up from day one and prevent those avoidable delays that were hindering businesses.”

They incorporated AI and relevant software and also coded their own systems.

“For example, a lot of the clearances were previously all manual data entry. We’ve used tech to automate that. An entry that would have taken five hours now takes 10 minutes,” Joe explained.

“We also have all the different approvals you can get to speed things up. It means we can generally deliver the service much quicker. Just today we had a haulage company ask us to prepare some customs documents for them. The automated response time from their agent is 24 hours, whereas we usually say one hour, unless it’s a particularly busy time.

“For a standard import or export, sometimes it’s 20 minutes, sometimes it’s two.”

Rapid growth

While Joe and Matt were able to take a risk on their new business venture, they admit they’ve been surprised by the rapid growth.

“As we both lived at home and didn’t have children or mortgages to worry about, we decided to give it a year to see how it goes. By the end of that first year, we had already employed someone and moved to an office. By the end of the second year, we’ve doubled the size of that office and increased the size of the team to eight people,” Joe said.

“It’s grown quickly through word of mouth because as soon as people experience the level of service we provide, they recommended us.

“We then kept getting asked if we did transport as well and had the opportunity to branch out into this area when one of our freight clients disbanded and wanted to pass all their customers to us because they trusted us.”

Careers in logistics

Joe and Matt are now keen to promote careers in logistics to other young people.

“If you ask people what they wanted to do when they grow up, they never say logistics or freight – no-one in our company said it either,” said Joe. “Yet apart from my dad, everyone who works here is in their 20s.

“It’s not a career you naturally think of and is often something people fall into. But it can actually be very varied and rewarding, with lots of opportunities and different specialisms.

 “Logistics is typically an ageing industry, so we need to start encouraging more young people to get into it.”

Setting sights on European expansion

Zelir Logistics now offers a range of services including customs clearance and consultancy and shipping and road freight services in the UK and EU. Due to its close proximity to Dover, it also specialises in Dover customs clearance, expediting processing times and reducing delays.

They now have their sights set on a European office as the next phase of the business’s expansion.

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