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Growing with the opportunities
Economic growth is stagnating or even declining in many places, but in the Asia Pacific region, it is surprisingly strong. DACHSER is greatly expanding its network there for customers from all over the world.
Tokyo, the economic metropolis at the foot of Mount Fuji.
Believe it or not, but there is still such a thing as good news about the economy. In spring of this year, it came from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Economists from these organizations are predicting solid growth of 4.6 to 4.8 percent for the Asia Pacific region in 2023—meaning it would account for some 70 percent of global economic growth. This is mainly due to China ending its zero-Covid policy, which revived the country’s economy, and to robust development in India. According to the Asian Development Outlook, “growth in the People’s Republic of China will reach 5 percent in 2023, up from 3 percent in 2022.” The situation looks even better for up-and-coming India, with ADB forecasting 6.3 percent growth for 2023.
The IMF regards Asia Pacific as “still the world’s most dynamic region,” predicting that in 2050, it will account for around half of global GDP. One of the reasons for this, the IMF says, is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The world’s most extensive free-trade agreement, RCEP was signed on November 15, 2020, during the 37th ASEAN summit by the ten member countries of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ASEAN Dialogue Partners China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand are also signatories. India, also a Dialogue Partner, was involved in the initial negotiations, but withdrew at the end of 2019, in particular due to fears that the dismantling of tariffs set out in RCEP would flood the market with Chinese goods.
The dynamics of this complex yet attractive market environment have been reflected in logistics for a long time. DACHSER’s Air & Sea Logistics Asia Pacific (APAC) Business Unit has been active in the region for many years. In 2022, it employed more than 1,500 people at 45 locations in 9 countries.
Proximity to customers and markets
Base of operations for all DACHSER APAC activities and for their integration into DACHSER’s global network is the company’s location in Hong Kong. “We’re close to customers and to the markets,” says Edoardo Podestà, COO Air & Sea Logistics and Managing Director Air & Sea Logistics APAC. He adds that this was especially important during the pandemic, when supply chains were severely disrupted, transport capacity was chronically tight, and ports that are essential for global trade were temporarily closed. As a result, freight rates skyrocketed like never before. Sea and air freight containers became both scarce and expensive.
At the beginning of 2023, however, China ended its zero-Covid policy and thus set the course for recovery. “When the global economy restarted, we poured considerable effort into renegotiating contracts with shipping lines, airlines, and charter companies, as well as into getting supply chains fully back up and running,” Podestà says. “Now we can once again turn our attention to growth, focusing on the reliability of our services and providing the best quality possible.”
Underpinning these efforts is the systematic expansion of DACHSER’s Air & Sea logistics network in the Asia Pacific region. In March of this year, for instance, the company opened sales offices in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and in Da Nang, Vietnam, to meet growing demand—particularly from customers in the electronics, fashion, and sport sectors.
In May, DACHSER launched a joint venture with Japanese logistics provider Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co. Ltd. The first office of “DACHSER Japan K.K.” will open in Tokyo toward the end of 2023. The Japanese location will offer air and sea transports with close connections to DACHSER’s European overland transport network. This is expected to benefit customers in the automotive and electronics industries. DACHSER also sees a great deal of potential for pharmaceutical and medical products.
“Now we can once again turn our attention to growth, focusing on the reliability of our services and providing the best quality possible.”
DACHSER achieved another important milestone Down Under. With its most recent acquisition of ACA International—an air and sea freight forwarder headquartered in Melbourne, Australia—DACHSER rounded off its own air and sea freight network in that region. Australia and New Zealand are attractive points on the logistics map due to their strong economies and close ties to Asia, Europe, and North America. Founded in 1982, ACA International launched the integration process and began trading under the names DACHSER Australia and DACHSER New Zealand at the start of June. The company employs 56 people and generated revenue of around EUR 75 million in 2021.
“Through our acquisitions, new branches, and offices in the Asia Pacific region, we’re moving DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics further along its growth trajectory and systematically closing the gaps in the global network of our own locations,” Podestà says. “That means we can offer our customers seamless access to dynamic economic markets that boast attractive local conditions and significant levels of investment.”“Now we can once again turn our attention to growth, focusing on the reliability of our services and providing the best quality possible.”
Dr. Tobias Burger will succeed Edoardo Podestà as COO Air & Sea Logistics as of January 1, 2024.
Change in leadership
DACHSER has already laid the groundwork to ensure the long-term viability of operations in the region. Dr. Tobias Burger will succeed Edoardo Podestà as COO Air & Sea Logistics and member of the Executive Board, effective January 1, 2024. After a DACHSER career spanning 20 years, a little over four of them at the helm of ASL, Podestà will step down from active working life at the end of 2023.
Regarding Podestà’s additional function as Managing Director of DACHSER’s ASL APAC Business Unit, he will be succeeded by Roman Müller as of January 1, 2024. Born in Switzerland, Müller has spent his entire working life in Asia. Over the past 15 years, his management positions at DACHSER include Manager of the Korea country organization and Head of Sales for the entire APAC region. Most recently, he has served as Podestà’s deputy at ASL APAC. “Roman Müller knows the Asian markets and their requirements inside out. In all his previous positions—especially those in sales—he achieved outstanding success and helped advance our presence in Asia,” says DACHSER CEO Burkhard Eling. “So he is ideally placed not only to continue the stellar development of the ASL APAC business unit but also to take it to a whole new level by focusing even more on offering integrated services.
DACHSER South Africa expands coastal cross-docking facilities
Cross-docking, where inbound cargo is unloaded from an incoming container, sorted and then loaded directly to outbound carriers, is an important logistics strategy that keeps supply chains moving in a productive, effective manner. Logistics leader, DACHSER South Africa, has recently expanded its Durban operations to a new 3600sqm warehouse in Pinetown, Durban.
“The new off-loading and loading bays have increased our capacity to handle a number of containers at a time, enabling us to offer excellent turn-around times,” says Detlev Duve, DACHSER South Africa, Managing Director, “The facility provides a dedicated central site for products to be sorted for delivery to multiple destinations in the most productive way, saving costs. Ultimately, our customers benefit from a more efficient supply chain.”
Deidre Smith, DACHSER Sea Freight Imports Manager, says, “We’re able to consolidate shipments, or even break down larger shipments into smaller loads, for easier delivery. Storage and handling costs can be reduced as products spend less time in the warehouse. Cargo also typically reaches its final destination faster, giving our customers a competitive edge.”
Further to a spacious, well-equipped warehouse, Smith says that experienced staff and effective planning are the foundations of a successful operation. “Skilled staff are vital to the operation and management of the warehouse. From expert inventory control using Warehouse Management Systems, through to our material handling equipment operators and cargo handling teams, we ensure that all our staff are well-trained and clear on the different goods and requirements of our customers.”
Smith explains that the goods that are most conducive to cross-docking are those that are in steady demand, usually higher volume, fast-moving products scheduled in regular dispatches to pre-planned destinations. DACHSER also has the experience to handle large or complex items. “Of course, the preferred cargo to handle is stackable, palletised cargo that fits neatly into racks can be easily transported, but we’ve become experts in handling the odd and awkward cargo too. Taking care of customers cargo and avoiding damages is our top priority, and our Durban handling team has the experience to load the trucks safely and correctly. We also ensure that the appropriate handling equipment is available when off-loading a container and manoeuvring the cargo around the warehouse.”
The DACHSER team handles both Pre-Distribution, where goods are unloaded and despatched according to set distribution instructions, and Post-Distribution processes, usually for retailers, which entails flexible picking and packing according to demand, based on in-store inventory, sales forecasts and trends.
Duve says it is also essential to partner with reputable transporters that offer a regular and reliable service to move the goods from warehouse to customer door.
“With all the right foundations in place, cross-docking has become part of the seamless supply chain solution DACHSER South Africa offers to our customers, which further includes contract logistics, value-added warehousing, customs clearance and customs warehousing services,” says Duve.
About DACHSER:
A family-owned company headquartered in Kempten, Germany, DACHSER is a leading supplier of logistics services worldwide.
DACHSER offers comprehensive transport logistics, warehousing, and customer-specific services in two business fields: DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics and DACHSER Road Logistics. The latter consists of two business lines: DACHSER European Logistics and DACHSER Food Logistics. Comprehensive contract-logistics services and industry-specific solutions round out the company’s offerings. A seamless shipping network—both in Europe and overseas—and fully integrated IT systems ensure intelligent logistics solutions worldwide.
Thanks to some 30,995 employees at 393 locations all over the globe, DACHSER generated revenue of 5.66 billion euros in 2019. That same year, the logistics provider handled a total of 80.6 million shipments weighing 41. million metric tons. Country organizations represent DACHSER in 44 countries.
Camso specializes in off-road tires, wheels, rubber tracks, and track systems for commercial and powersport vehicles. To reach its customers in Europe as quickly and efficiently as possible, the company entrusted its logistics management to DACHSER as Lead Logistics Provider—a solution with a future.
Camso supplies tires for massive jobs.
When things get really slippery, muddy, gravelly, or slick, that’s when thick pneumatic rollers, rubber tracks, and hard rubber tires prove their mettle. They’re indispensable for the high-performance equipment used in material handling, on construction sites, in agriculture and quarries, and even in outdoor powersports. The message is very clear: the more demanding the terrain, the better.
And that’s precisely what Camso, a Michelin Group brand, specializes in. A global leader in the development, manufacture, and distribution of industrial tires, wheels, and rubber tracks, Camso has more than 8,000 employees in 26 countries across the globe, primarily in Asia, Europe, and North America. It also operates four research and development centers, 23 manufacturing facilities, and an international distribution network in more than 100 countries.
This setup puts as many demands on Camso’s logistics operations as the areas of application put on its products. To keep the company on track for growth and to tap the full potential of digitalization, Camso began reviewing its global and European logistics network some time ago. “Having ten local distribution centers in Europe, each of them independently managed, was no longer in keeping with the times,” says Pierrick Bouf, Supply Chain and Logistics Director EMEA at Camso. “As a result, we reorganized our network around three main distribution centers: one in the UK, one in Germany to cover northern Europe, and one in France to serve southern Europe.”
A reliable partner
The French distribution center in Grans, located near the Mediterranean port of Fos-sur-Mer northwest of Marseille, is operated by DACHSER. “Its location, logistics capacities, and groupage network made it a good fit with our plans to be able to deliver goods to the French market within 24 or 48 hours,” Bouf says. This cooperation would prove successful and resulted in DACHSER being included in the discussion about handing over responsibility for all logistics services to a Lead Logistics Provider (LLP).
"The close collaboration with DACHSER as LLP has made our processes significantly easier and increased our responsiveness in extremely turbulent times", says Pierrick Bouf, Supply Chain and Logistics Director EMEA at Camso.
The LLP would be tasked with orchestrating twelve different transport service providers and ensuring that they deliver an average of 170 shipments per day from the three central shipping warehouses to the target customers in Europe with maximum efficiency and transparency. “In parallel with this new logistics organization, we wanted to improve our services by centralizing and standardizing them and having a knowledgeable point of contact for all logistics-related questions,” Bouf says.
But first, an explanation of the term and the underlying concept is in order: a Lead Logistics Provider is a logistics company that acts as a neutral party in organizing all or at least the essential logistics processes for its customers, regardless of which service provider carries out the operational activity. LLPs are deeply integrated in their customers’ (logistics) processes. After all, this comprehensive service approach isn’t restricted to conducting transports or performing terminal handling or warehousing services; it also involves designing, implementing, and organizing supply chains, optimizing transport and warehouse planning, coordinating suppliers, and integrating the latest (communication) technologies. Customer-specific services such as customs clearance, packaging management, and value-added services also fall under the range of LLP responsibilities.
Delivering tires to customers throughout Europe.
The “premiere league of logistics”
That’s why Stefan Hohm, Chief Development Officer (CDO) at DACHSER, considers LLPs to represent the “premiere league of logistics”: “The LLP concept requires a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the customer’s supply chain and all associated processes. Using the network and IT expertise that we have acquired and grown over the years, we continue to develop and refine this system to create sustainable complete solutions that our customers need for their business model. In addition to the shipments transported by DACHSER, our portfolio will also incorporate the transparency and management of other logistics providers.”
This made Dachser an obvious choice as Camso’s LLP. “In our collaboration to date, Dachser has proven that it’s capable of organizing and allocating transports exactly the way we want. Following our shared experience with the Dachser-operated Camso distribution center in France, we then began working to expand the LLP solution to the other two distribution centers in the UK and Germany,” Bouf says. “Dachser is very familiar with our products and how we work, and it understands our special service-level requirements when shipping to another country.”
On the DACHSER end, the various strands of the Camso LLP project all converge in the hands of Martin Poost, Department Head Lead Logistics Provider. “All supply chain information flows into the DACHSER LLP Control Tower,” Poost says. “That’s the center where all data, independent of company and location, is pooled and monitored. To do this, we transform the physical supply chain processes and the specific customer requirements into an appropriate IT logic. We then display all relevant data in a transparent and traceable format on the DACHSER Supply Chain Visibility platform, where it can be accessed at any time.”
For this to work, the Camso and DACHSER systems have to be able to “talk” to each other and allow data to be shared in real time without losing information. According to Poost, this is a demanding challenge that, together with Camso, DACHSERsucceeded in transforming into a practical solution. Paving the way for this success was a working group with IT teams from Camso, DACHSER, and technology partner Siemens. “Working closely together, we were able to design the interfaces and the data structure in a way that ensures that communication between our ERP system and the DACHSER Supply Chain Visibility platform functions securely,” Bouf says.
An integrated overall concept
Camso had formulated clear expectations for DACHSER as LLP. It wanted an integrated concept for warehousing, distribution, and management of the various transport providers handling the groupage shipments, partial and full loads, and package deliveries. To this end, DACHSER was tasked with managing and controlling all transports and service providers, including transmitting shipment data to everyone involved, printing barcode labels, and managing proofs of delivery. And last but not least, the LLP is responsible for validating invoices. In other words, it was entrusted with the entire portfolio of highly developed and practical supply chain management processes.
For the Dachser LLP team led by Martin Poost, and for their partners at Camso, working together to draw up the detailed requirements and specifications once again showed very clearly that DACHSER could provide the orchestration of all required logistics services far more efficiently and reliably than if Camso had to create a suitable structure itself.
A glance at the Control Tower and the functionalities of DACHSER’s Supply Chain Visibility platform shows just why that is: “Here, all transport-related data, independent of company and location, is pooled together in one system and presented graphically, making it practical for use in different media,” Poost says. “This enables us and customers, regardless of location, to see where any shipment is at any given time and to intervene if necessary.” Thanks to DACHSER’s proprietary Supply Chain Visibility platform, everyone involved in the transport has access to the latest information and can contact other parties directly if desired, regardless of which type of transport is used. “We cover full and partial loads as well as groupage and parcel services. And it’s all part of a single solution for procurement and distribution logistics,” Poost says.
Easy to use
As the logistics experts know, digitalized and automated processes are only as good and worthwhile as their level of acceptance in day-to-day operations. “That’s why we pay particular attention to user acceptance of all the tools we use,” Poost says. It’s crucial that solutions be easy to use, for example via smartphone, app, and special web services.
If, for example, a rubber track needs to be sent from Germany to France, the Camso systems transmit the shipment data via an EDI to the Supply Chain Visibility platform, which Camso uses to control and release the shipment. The platform then transmits the data to the selected transport provider, who ultimately accepts the shipment. This system is used in transport scheduling, in the transit terminal, and by the drivers. “This means everyone can always see where the track is on its journey through Europe,” Poost says. That’s more than conventional tracking and tracing. “The major advantage of consolidating all shipment data in a single system is that it enables us to work for and with customers from an early stage to plan all transport services. For example, to arrange delivery in accordance with the recipient’s available time slots.” After the rubber track is delivered in France, the proof of delivery is transmitted, enabling the immediate final review of the transport costs indicated on the transport provider’s EDI invoice. “This carrier management,” Poost says, “is a well-oiled process and everyone has their part to play in it.”
The Control Tower and the DACHSER Supply Chain Visibility platform also provide tangible benefits when it comes to analysis, for instance when creating reports or Excel tables and forecasts for such things as order planning and timely provision of container and transport capacities. And last but not least, Poost says, another key aspect of the Control Tower is quality assurance. “When evaluating the services agreed with suppliers and transport providers, an appropriately qualified LLP partner has the professional and technological edge over customers when this evaluation can be explicitly ‘based on daily practice, for daily practice’.”
Poost’s and Bouf’s preliminary verdict on the Camso-DACHSER LLP partnership is thus a positive one. “Especially during the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, the close collaboration with DACHSER made our processes significantly easier and increased our responsiveness in these extremely turbulent times,” Bouf notes with satisfaction. This also includes the parties having long since established a trusting and mutually appreciative connection on a personal level. “Since the start of our collaboration more than five years ago, we have had weekly operations meetings where we can discuss the events of the previous week and plans for the coming week, and where many potential problems can be anticipated and addressed proactively,” Poost says. “For all the technology it uses and all the progress it is making toward digitalization, logistics is still and will remain a ‘people business’—even, and especially, for a Lead Logistics Provider.”
Since April 2021, DACHSER has opted exclusively for so-called ‘mega trailers’ when purchasing new semi-trailers in Germany. Because of their more generous cargo space dimensions - with otherwise the same length and width - the mega trailers achieve better fuel economy than standard semi-trailers, especially over long distances. Full conversion of the German fleet is scheduled to be completed by 2027, with some 680 new mega trailers in total. In the next few years, DACHSER will also start replacing its fleets in the 24 other European countries where it is represented through its European Logistics business line.
Discontinuation of the additional service “cash on delivery”
Digitalization and automation are key topics in online business as well as in logistics. As a result, a large number of online payment options have developed that are used in B2B and B2C business worldwide. The hygiene measures established as a result of the Corona crisis and the change in payment behaviour make it more difficult to use means of payment such as "cash on delivery". For DACHSER, the previous additional service "cash on delivery" is no longer necessary and will therefore discontinue this form of payment from 1 July 2020.
