TCI: Accelerating Growth with a Dedicated Global Operations Team

At a glance

• 13 FTEs — Deployed exclusively to TCI
• 10,000–12,000 transactions — Processed monthly freeing up onshore teams
• 60–65% cost savings — Compared to Germany-based hiring

Challenge

As shipment volumes increased, TCI faced a challenge shared by many growing freight forwarders: scaling operations quickly without sacrificing service quality. Long hiring lead times and rising labor costs in Germany made it difficult to expand internal teams at the pace required to support business growth.

At the same time, maintaining turnaround times and service consistency remained critical as operational complexity increased. TCI needed a flexible solution that would allow them to:

• Increase operational capacity quickly
• Maintain service quality and turnaround times
• Support multiple workflows across the business
• Extend coverage across time zones
• Scale without continuously increasing onshore headcount

The company wasn't simply looking to outsource tasks—it needed a long-term operational partner that could grow alongside the business.

Solution

Expedock deployed and ramped a dedicated 13-person operations team that embedded directly into TCI's day-to-day workflows.

The team began supporting multiple functions across:

Sales Support

Providing operational assistance that enabled TCI's commercial teams to spend more time building customer relationships and driving revenue.

Documentation

Managing critical documentation processes while maintaining speed and accuracy.

Import and Export Operations

Supporting shipment execution workflows to ensure smooth day-to-day operations. Leveraging our deep freight forwarding expertise, the team quickly adapted to TCI's existing SOPs, minimizing client-side training requirements and enabling a seamless transition.

This allowed TCI to immediately increase capacity without disrupting existing operations. By extending support across time zones, the partnership also provided greater operational flexibility and global coverage.

Building a More Scalable Operating Model

Instead of relying solely on local hiring, TCI adopted a model designed for long-term growth. New team members were onboarded within four to six weeks, allowing the business to respond quickly to increasing demand.

The dedicated team became an extension of TCI's operations, helping absorb growing shipment volumes while enabling internal employees to focus on customer relationships and other high-value activities. As confidence in the partnership grew, TCI expanded operational support across additional trade lanes.

The Results

10,000–12,000 transactions processed every month

The team now supports thousands of shipment-related transactions monthly, creating additional operational capacity without overwhelming onshore teams.

60–65% cost savings compared to Germany-based hiring

TCI significantly reduced operating costs while maintaining high service standards.

Consistent same-day turnaround times

Core workflows are completed within the same day, helping maintain customer expectations and operational reliability.

Extended global coverage

Additional time zone support enables faster execution and greater responsiveness.

Rapid scalability

TCI expanded into additional trade lanes without increasing onshore headcount.

Customer Feedback

As Expedock took on more operational scope, we saw consistent performance and reliability from the team. This gave us the confidence to expand further and extend support across additional trade lanes.

Jan Voss
Vice President / Head of Seafreight Export LCL

Why It Worked

Many freight forwarders struggle to scale because traditional hiring models can't keep pace with growing shipment volumes.

TCI took a different approach. By combining dedicated operational talent with freight forwarding expertise, the company built a flexible operating model that could expand alongside the business.

Instead of adding pressure to their onshore teams, TCI created a global support structure that increased capacity, maintained performance, and enabled sustainable growth. The result was not just additional headcount, it was a more scalable way of operating.

Looking to Scale Your Freight Operations?

Expedock helps freight forwarders build dedicated global operations teams that integrate seamlessly into existing workflows.

From sales support and documentation to import/export operations, we help logistics companies increase capacity, reduce costs, and scale without increasing management overhead.