Trailer Bridge’s Adela Hysaj Details Importance of Teamwork as a Company Culture: Pros to Know Award

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Hello, my name is Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive, and I'm here with Adela Husai, Director of Customer Experience at Trailer Bridge. Adela is a recipient of this year's Pros to Know Award in the Rising Stars category. Adela, congratulations, thank you so much for joining me today!

Let's talk about you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, and your journey, and how you got to this current stage in your career.

Adela Hysaj: I was raised around logistics. My father was a truck driver. All of my uncles are still, some of them still, truck drivers, and when I first moved to the United States, I started working for my uncle, who at the time owned a small trucking company.

And ever since, I was always so curious about what happens beyond just dispatching a driver, what does it take to arrange all of this logistics.

So the more I worked around it, the more I fell in love with it. And, as the journey continues, I started working with Trailer Bridge back in 2015, and I have been so fortunate to be able to work in different departments, in different roles, and that has given me the opportunity to learn different tasks, different areas and aspects of the business, and the Trailer Bridge operations in particular, that has helped me grow professionally and personally in ways I could not imagine.

And so here I am. I was the manager of customer experience for about 7 years and recently promoted to Director of Customer Experience.

And I am very proud to be working here and working alongside co-workers that are still committed to make it happen every day.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: One of the things outlined in your submission is how you manage relationships with more than 360 customers moving freight to and from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. What does this entail, and what are some of the common challenges clients face with regards to moving freight in today's day and age?

Adela Hysaj: So, one of our strongest strategies is providing end-to-end transportation service for our customers to and from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. And, what that means is, basically, we have a strategy over a single point of contact, where we take care of everything, beginning with, pricing, all the way through booking, overseeing the coordination between all the departments, truck operations, rail movement, cross-docking, documentation, and keeping the communication streamlined with the customers through that one single point of contact, where we establish very close relationships with all of our customers. They know who they're working with, they know who's the faces behind the freight, and it becomes very natural; it's one of those experiences that we strive to provide our customers with. They know exactly who to go to, who to ask for the information, not having to go from one person to the other to get the full picture or the full visibility on their shipments.

Some of the most common challenges is that shipping to and from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic can be very complex.

There's some custom pieces in place, there's documentation that is required by different governing agencies. There's also timelines and deadlines as well that you have to meet to be able to keep the things moving. So, all of the account managers that are part of the customer's experience team, they work very closely with all of the departments to make sure that we get all of the right answers and solutions and options for our customers so that they don't get hung up by the processes.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Over the past 12 months, you helped Trailer Bridge realize a 2.7% increase in overall Ocean Division revenue, and achieve a 98% overall customer satisfaction rating. What does that entail? What does that look like for you?

Adela Hysaj: A very large team effort. It's something that cannot be accomplished without the efforts and the hard work of all of the teams and all of the departments across the board. I know I do take a lot of pride in the team that I lead and the customer service that we provide, the response time, the accuracy, the solutions that we provide, but it really is because we have a lot of support in the back end, and there's a lot of people that come together and work together to actually make that happen.

And, think the revenue and the numbers and the percentages and the utilization are a reflection, a translation of the culture that we work on day in and day out. And what's very important is that we don't make the effort to provide good service, but it's a habit. It's more like we have to take care of the customers, and that does translate in the end to higher revenue, and of course, higher utilization as well. So, we go by those habits and that type of operations within our team to achieve those goals.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: You also played a central leadership role during the Brooklyn Bridge barge incident, when the vessel ran aground off the coast of the Bahamas and then was subsequently looted. Walk us through that day, what happened, and how you provided the crisis management behind the scenes.

Adela Hysaj: It was a tough day, for sure. It was a very unfortunate situation, as one of our barges lost tow into the Bahamas. And, it was then, looted. So, there was a lot of, I'd say, panic around it, especially on the customer's hand. It was one of those events that was all over the media, all over the news, and we did have a large amount of cargo on that barge, and it was very critical to provide updates, to provide statuses to the customers that were impacted, and keep them current with all of the day-to-day events.

We were fortunate that we did get the barge out. We have it back in our possession, and our teams, operational teams and safety teams have worked very diligently to go through the processes. My role in that event was the direct communication with the customers that were impacted; answering all of their questions, keeping them updated, and also coordinating with our operational teams to make sure that we provided full transparency in the process.

It was a process that moved along very quickly, fortunately, with all of the efforts and the teams coming together to work through it. So, while it was not the best scenario that we would have wanted to be, I'm definitely proud of how our teams and how our crisis management came together to handle that situation, and I was very lucky to be part of it as well, and to be able to play a role in helping in that process.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: The Rising Stars category recognizes young or newer professionals whose achievements, hard work, and vision have shaped the supply chain network. What advice do you have for other young professionals in the supply chain space?

Adela Hysaj: Resilience, patience, and hard work does pay off. It will set up long-term success. And then once you get there, you have to stay consistent. It's very important that you stay consistent. I have been very fortunate to work for a company that has given me the platform to be successful. I brought in the skills, I may have brought in the brains, but they have really given me the opportunity to grow, to evolve, to learn in ways that I am extremely grateful for. So, it's important to always stay consistent, work hard, and also pick the right company.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: What is the one thing that we have not talked about yet that would be important to our audience to know? What is the one takeaway? 

Adela Hysaj: One takeaway from my whole experience is recognition goes a long way. I am very grateful for all the opportunities, and I will just continue to work hard, and it's part of what makes us who we are.