Cargo Chat: Rhenus Logistics’ Schmersahl on regional expansion

With COVID-19 travel restrictions changing with every new variant outbreak, forwarders have spent the last two years learning what it means to be flexible during turbulent times. Whether adjusting to a remote workplace, sudden flight schedule changes or navigating a passenger-freighter model, the pandemic has spurred innovation, encouraging forwarders to think outside the box. [caption id="attachment_98525" align="alignright" width="443"] Jorn Schmersahl, CEO Rhenus Americas (Photo: Rhenus Logistics)[/caption] Germany-based forwarder Rhenus Logistics is no stranger to contingency plans. The company, which offers supply chain, warehousing and transport services across a network of 820 global locations, has specifically aimed to increase its cargo footprint in the Americas region. The forwarder opened its first 160,000-square-foot regional warehouse headquarters in Miami in 2020 following its acquisition of Miami-based forwarder Freight Logistics at an undisclosed sale price in 2019. Air Cargo World spoke with Jorn Schmersahl, CEO of Rhenus Americas, to learn more about how Rhenus Logistics is planning to strengthen its operations in the region and continue to navigate ongoing challenges due to COVID-19 while staying flexible in order to meet the shifting customer market. Air Cargo World : Between Lunar New Year demand and recent omicron outbreaks, what can you share about the current airfreight market situation, especially as capacity reductions due to changing COVID-19 restrictions continue? Jorn Schmersahl: Lately, we’ve been seeing crews being hit by omicron, so that leads to flights and services being suspended. What does it mean? We need to be flexible, we need to communicate with the clients immediately, and while we cannot avoid the situation, we can try to mitigate the risks and have a contingency plan in place. Some of those are that we have expanded the range of service providers and carriers that we’ve been using. We also looked for new routes … and we tried to divert cargo to other airports like Detroit [DTW], St. Louis [STL] and Indianapolis [IND]. In the case of New York, we went to either Philadelphia [PHL] or Washington [IAD]. So, we’ve been trying to find alternatives to circumvent the situation at the airport, which, per se, wasn’t only the airport itself, but ground handling and also the services around trucking companies. ACW: How do you think about long-term planning and positioning Rhenus for future success as the market slowly normalizes? JS: Our history [in the Americas] is pretty young. Over the course of the next year, we will be looking to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) wherever they make sense and wherever they are reasonable. At the same time, we are consolidating some of the activities, as well as adding new products or different verticals. We’re starting with a life science and health care logistics vertical on a global basis [launched in January], but also in the Americas, so that will also be a new endeavor that we’re taking. And ultimately, one of the goals is to make the name Rhenus much more known in the Americas market. ACW: What general trends do you see in the Americas, and how is Rhenus Logistics hoping to leverage these new opportunities? JS: There are new opportunities, especially for us, because our presence is still growing in the Americas [and] I see much more opportunity than actual challenges. The behavior of consumers, the behavior of companies and the behavior of traders and importers has changed. They are much more inclined right now to try to get as much cargo in, so warehouse activities are growing tremendously. You might have been seeing a trend over the last months, that capacities of warehouses are almost up to the capacity … Companies are importing as much as possible in order to have on stock in lieu of the [inventory] challenges, and we see that trend all over the world. At the same time, we see that some companies and some industries are shipping out smaller units instead of bigger units in the past, but on a more frequent basis, which again is an opportunity to provide services.

Cargo Chat: Rhenus Logistics’ Schmersahl on regional expansion

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