Affordable Housing for Exporters

New Hampshire Opening ‘Houses’ Abroad to Help U.S. Companies

By Dawn Wivell

If you’re a New Hampshire-based exporter and need to have a presence in Europe to go after new business, you don’t have to open a branch office there immediately. 

And if your shipping costs are pricing you out of the market or your customer service is lacking, but you don’t have the capability or size to set up your own warehousing and distribution center, don’t worry – your state has a solution for that as well. 

New Hampshire’s small to mid-size exporters have been making inroads in the European marketplace, and now the state has decided to use a two-pronged strategy to give them a bigger edge, even making it available to companies outside of the state.

The first prong is the New Hampshire House program, through which local companies can maintain a virtual overseas office, with an in-country mailing address, mail forwarding, telephone number, call forwarding, fax number, meeting rooms, workspace, videoconferencing, as well as market penetration assistance and other customized services based on specific needs.  The virtual presence is a means to having a branch office in Europe, and all that implies, at an affordable cost and without the requisite management issues.

The first New Hampshire House to be launched is in a highly prestigious area of central London, at 130 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1.  A New Hampshire trade delegation, led by Department of Resources and Economic Development Commissioner, Sean O’Kane, was on hand Nov. 17, for the official opening.   Top British officials and businesses from London as well as Wales, Scotland, Hampshire, England and Northern Ireland, along with guests from Ireland, attended a luncheon, which included a presentation about New Hampshire by Commissioner O’Kane.

The New Hampshire House concept has received high accolades and much support from the British government, and has further solidified an already burgeoning relationship with the United Kingdom.  New Hampshire House London was developed and is managed by New Hampshire’s commercial consuls to the United Kingdom, Ronald E. Cook and Herbert Enmarch-Williams.

The second part of the state exporter-assistance strategy takes the form of the New Hampshire European Logistics Center, which offers convenient and cost effective access to the tremendous benefits of a European-based logistics hub.

Having heard, repeatedly, from many of its SMEs, that one of the biggest obstacles to keeping up with the competition is the cost and efficiency of shipping and distribution, as well as dealing with returns, product localization and overall good customer service, the state decided to find a way to provide a consolidated approach with multiple solutions. 

The Netherlands was chosen as the best spot for the logistics center, and the Dutch government helped in finding a logistics partner, Road Air. The Logistics Center is serviced by a stateside logistics group, Walsh Transportation Group; an insurance broker; The Sadler Insurance Agency, Inc.; a law firm, Sheehan, Phinney, Bass and Green; and a shipping line, DAMCO Sea and Air. 

Managed by the NH International Trade Resource Center, the team works to provide a custom designed logistical strategy for each client, at consolidated and affordable rates, which includes an a la carte menu of valued added services ranging from the basic to the highly structured:

Logistics Inbound

Transportation, warehousing, inbound control, inbound checking, de-kitting, de-trashing, damage control and reporting

Operations

Maintenance, repair, testing, lot and batch control, quarantine areas, systems integration, scrapping, procurement

Logistics Outbound

Fulfillment, transport, installation, distribution, track and trace, E type warehouse, fiscal representation, bonded facilities

Service

Call center, RMA administration, reporting, VAT deferment, legal, and insurance

No two clients’ needs are alike.  They range from simple warehousing and pick and pack services to a transit hub, assembly, product-packaging, localization, returns, and full distribution arrangements.  The products and services are diverse, ranging from an Internet sales-based company that requires full fledged warehousing, fulfillment, tracking and return services, to a heart valve company, where efficiency of delivery is truly a life and death matter.

And New Hampshire is moving beyond Europe.  The opening of the next New Hampshire House is planned for Singapore, by the end of the year, with more to follow throughout Asia.  The Asian-based New Hampshire Houses have been developed and will be managed by Gerry Crawford, New Hampshire commercial consul to Asia.

The services of New Hampshire House and the New Hampshire European Logistics Center are also available to non-New Hampshire companies.   For more information, call or email Dawn Wivell, director, New Hampshire International Trade Resource Center, (603) 334-6074, dwivell@dred.state.nh.us .