a really “cool” service offering - kuehne + nagela really “cool” service offering when...
TRANSCRIPT
5F O C U S. . . . . . .
Without smoothly functioning perish-ables logistics globalisation wouldhardly be what it is today, at leastwhere the culinary side is concerned,and our supermarkets would not offermany of the products we have come toexpect. Grapes from Egypt, strawberriesfrom Chile, apples from New Zealand,deep-frozen fish from Norway, citrusfruits from South Africa and Australia,or even flower bulbs from the Nether-lands and roses from Kenya – today themarket for these products is driven byglobal supply and demand and calls forever more efficient refrigerated trans-port chains.
Whatever the source country of a prod-uct and whatever consumer market itmust be transported to, Kuehne + Nageloffers temperature-controlled logisticsservices and door-to-door transport allover the globe. The service is basedupon a specialised network of cargoexperts and operational units whichwas built up during the last ten years inall countries in the principal export andimport regions, including in challengingmarkets such as Central and SouthAmerica, Egypt, South Africa or China.
A key feature of Kuehne + Nagel’s serv-ice is the seamless door-to-door cold
chain with which the logistics providertransports perishable goods from theirsource to their destination. Crucialrequirements for this service are a guar-anteed availability of space and reeferequipment with airlines and carriers dur-ing peak seasons from overseas as wellas fastest possible transit times at thebeginning of a season, in particular forperishables such as mangoes, papayas,and pineapples.
Although today particularly in sea -freight capacity guarantees can nolonger be taken for granted, Kuehne +Nagel’s customers hold good cards inthis respect. On the one hand there has
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A really “cool” service offeringWhen transporting perishables like flowers, fruit or vegetables, particular care is required for their handling.Kuehne + Nagel has specialised in this niche segment and will expand its position globally in this market in thecoming years.
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6 F O C U S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
been a continuous trend towards morecontainerisation also in perishableslogistics; on the other hand a seriousshortage of reefer containers has devel-oped since the beginning of 2010. As aresult of the ordering behaviour of theshipping companies in the most recentcrisis, in 2009 only a quarter of the
customary annually 135,000 new reefercontainers were built; at the same timethe global market for perishable goodsproved surprisingly resistant and shrankby only one to two per cent even in thecrisis year. Despite this challenging mar-ket environment Kuehne + Nagel alwayssucceeded in servicing its customers
thanks to its selection of first-class maritime carriers and forward-lookingcapac ity management.
Kuehne + Nagel’s range of services inthe transport of refrigerated cargo isanother important quality criterion. Inperishables logistics the company offers
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integrated services from a single sourcebeyond traditional transportation ofgoods from port to port or between twoairports. Depending on requirements,door-to-door delivery includes the pre-cooling and refrigerated intermediatestorage of the goods, and, of course,their temperature-controlled collectionand delivery by truck. Needless to say,Kuehne + Nagel also offers its cus-tomers the advantages of the latesttechnology in the field of perishableslogistics. This includes CA (controlledatmosphere), MTS (multi-temperature)or AFAM systems (reefer containers thatmonitor and control the composition ofthe air in their interior – e.g. the propor-tions of oxygen and nitrogen) and theirassociated electrical generator sets.
For particularly time-sensitive perish-able goods such as cut flowers, manycustomers traditionally choose air-freight. As the world’s number three inthis field Kuehne + Nagel also offers afirst-class service based on many yearsof experience in the transport of perish-able goods by air. The company wasquick to spearhead the Cargo 2000quality offensive, and is now the onlylogistics provider who can manage andmonitor door-to-door airfreight ship-ments in accordance with its strict crite-ria. In addition to actual transport,Kuehne + Nagel offers IATA-certifiedisothermal packing, shrink-wrapping,temperature-controlled palletisation, re-packing, marking and labelling andsecurity checking with scanners.
By individually combining its differentservices Kuehne + Nagel offers in thefield of perishables logistics attractiveintegrated, tailor-made door-to-door con- cepts which are used by a growing num-ber of customers all over the world (seearticle on page 8). The rising de mandshows that this is another field ofbusiness where Kuehne + Nagel has chosen the right strategy, which it intendsto pursue further in the future.
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Founded 150 years ago as a family busi-ness in the Netherlands, the Van RijnGroup has evolved into a global playerin today’s agro-food chain, specialisingin breeding, cultivation and marketingof potatoes, vegetables and fruit.Through more than 50 affiliates andpartners in over 70 countries, each aspecialist in the fresh produce valuechain, the group offers its partners and
Full vegetable shelves (just) in time for ChristmasWhen severe weather conditions seriously obstructed traffic on many European airports in the wake of last Christmas, Kuehne + Nagel gave a demonstration of its flexibility and capabilities by managing to fly a huge shipment of fresh produce for one of its global customersfrom Amsterdam-Schiphol to North America – just in time for Christmas.
customers a full service package arounda wide assortment. To wholesale mar-kets, traders, exclusive restaurants, thefood processing industries and retailorganisations worldwide Van Rijn deliv-ers fresh produce of its own productionboth in the Netherlands and abroad.Besides typical Dutch products, thecompany offers a broad variety ofimported produce such as citrus fruits
from South Africa and Latin America,specially grown and selected pomelosand Fuji apples from China, nectarinesand peaches from Italy as well as water-melons and grapes from Spain andGreece.
Kuehne + Nagel has been enjoying asolid and dedicated partnership withthe Van Rijn Group for many years, tak-ing care of this important customer’sglobal air- and seafreight shipments.This cooperation forms the basis of reli-able intercontinental logistics servicesfrom and to Van Rijn’s business part-ners throughout the world and enablesthe Dutch company to offer a flexibledoor-to-door service by means of multi-modal logistics options. Not everyorder, however, is business as usual. A joint special effort by both partnerswas necessary late last December whenthe Van Rijn Group had to get a sub-stantial tonnage of fresh produce to its biggest customers all over NorthAmerica.
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Due to severe weather conditionswith heavy snowfall right beforeChristmas many airports throughoutEurope were closed with hundreds offlights cancelled and backlogs rapid-ly building up in the airport ware-houses. In this extreme bottleneck sit-uation the perishables logistics ex -perts from Kuehne + Nagel in Amster-dam managed to book a last-minutepart charter on a Boeing 747 on itsway from the Middle East to the U.S.Thanks to the strong commitment of
many dedicated people workingdespite freezing temperatures duringthe whole night, the precious cargowas co-loaded to the plane in arecord time enabling the aircraft totake off in the morning of December22 from Schiphol airport and to landsafely in New York the same day. VanRijn was very satisfied with this suc-cessful operation based on the for-warding experience of Kuehne + Na gel and the smooth cooperation ofall partners involved.
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Expansion of perishables logistics networkThe global expansion of the perish-ables segment is an important elementin Kuehne + Nagel’s growth strategy.With the acquisition at the beginningof 2011 of three South American com-panies specialised in perishables logis-tics, Kuehne + Nagel has become theleading provider in this region which isa major producer of goods such asflowers, fruit and vegetables. The twoColombian firms Translago S.A.S. andAgencia de Aduanas Excelsia Ltda.together employ roughly 160 peopleand are the market leaders in theexport of perishables, mainly to theU.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacificregion. Mastertransport SA, with ateam of 30 freight experts, is one ofEcuador’s largest forwarders in thisniche segment. The three companiestogether ship roughly 75,000 tons ofperishables per year by airfreight. Withtheir strong market position andexpertise, the acquired firms ideallycomplement Kuehne + Nagel’s globalnetwork and its service offerings in theperishables segment.
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