Month: January 2020

Shell and digital freight forwarding company InstaFreight are partnering to transform the European freight market. After successfully raising an investment from Shell’s corporate venturing arm, Shell Ventures, InstaFreight will be working together with Shell to expand their digital services to carrier companies in Europe. This investment and new partnership will help InstaFreight to accelerate its mission to digitise the road freight space and transform the freight market.

InstaFreight describes itself as the next generation freight forwarding company for road freight in Europe. The company excels by making use of digitisation to optimise processes and increase information transparency. The company thereby simplifies the freight forwarding business and focuses on providing practical benefits to shippers and carriers. Contrary to the still largely analogue processes and communication channels found in the freight forwarding industry, InstaFreight offers their commercial customers a digital experience that allows for a fast and convenient booking of transports. At the same time, they enhance transparency via track & trace and make logistics more efficient for both shippers and carriers. The Berlin-based company can provide operational visibility and data for continuous process optimization and offer fleet carriers a convenient way to receive the right business, track their vehicles as they transport goods around Europe, and get paid fast and reliably.

“The freight forwarding industry is already undergoing substantial disruption with digital models becoming more and more successful. We are very proud to have gained such a strong global player as Shell as our investor and partner. With the additional funds, we will continue our rapid growth, further improve our technology and make our services available to more shippers and carriers across Europe,” says Philipp Ortwein, Co-Founder and Managing Director of InstaFreight.

With its global fuel card, Shell gives its carriers instant and ongoing access to a range of outstanding fuels, mobility products and business services across the world’s largest fuel retail network. The company aims to build a relationship with its customers by learning about their fleet management problems and then providing solutions for issues related to safety, maintenance, and fuel consumption using telematics, mobility services, and others.

German property consulting company for logistics and industry Realogis says that Hamburg is in decline as a logistics centre, driven by space constraints.

“Our start-of-year forecast sadly proved correct,” comments Jörg Lojewski, Managing Director of Realogis Immobilien Hamburg GmbH, about the company’s latest report. “Space totalling 360,000 sqm was taken up by all market participants in the logistics location of Hamburg between January and December 2019. Consequently, this logistics region, which boasts one of the most attractive infrastructures in Germany, declined by 27% year-on-year (2018: 490,000 sqm). As well as being the weakest take-up result in five years, this figure was also 27% below the five-year average of 490,000 sqm.

“The industry and logistics sectors have not declined in Hamburg. On the contrary, we have seen consistently strong demand, while the world’s highest-performing port and the logistics sector continue to be major employers. By contrast, the shortage of available space – particularly for larger units of 10,000 sqm or more in the southern metropolitan region – had a significant impact. These properties are hugely important to a functioning economy and the efficient distribution of commodities as part of the flow of goods.”

But there is also positive demand for older logistics space with a high level of third-party use near the centre – and this means areas of Germany’s largest seaport as well as Billbrook, a district well equipped for trade and industry.

The shortage of space in the attractive north German hub is also apparent from the ranking of concluded leases: the conclusion of just one lease with a space volume greater than 10,000 sqm was registered in the last twelve months.

The lack of resources, claims Realogis, means that users are securing logistics space in Hamburg through long-term lease extensions, not least on account of the strong order situation and the well-developed connections to outlying areas with close links between the location and Europe.

Austrian intralogistics specialist TGW has just celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Founded in Wels, Austria in December 1969, the company today has more than 3,600 employees generated a turnover of 719 million Euros.

The roots of TGW reach back to when entrepreneur Ludwig Szinicz took over a small metalworking shop in Wels. With ten employees, the company produced order picking carts, wheelbarrows and heavy-duty trailers. TGW developed the first conveyor belts of the company’s history for an Austrian mail-order retailer in 1970. This laid the foundation for an intralogistics success story.

In the years since then, TGW has concentrated entirely on intralogistics. The product range was incrementally expanded with innovative products such as storage and retrieval machines, conveying system solutions and storage systems.

The path to becoming a systems integrator

2008 was a year marked by a fundamental strategy change. The company took the step from being a manufacturer of mechatronic subsystems to a systems integrator. The company would no longer just supply other companies, but also plan and implement highly complex logistics centers itself as a general contractor.

As a result, more and more customers rely on the expertise from Upper Austria, including global brands such as Adidas, Skechers and Zalando. This also involves the internationalisation of the business.

Today, TGW has units on three continents and more than 3,500 employees worldwide. About half of them work at the three Upper Austrian sites in Marchtrenk, Wels and Rohrbach.

In January 2007, TGW opened a brand-new entity in Market Harborough, located in the centre of the UK. TGW Limited started business with a small team of five people led by Andy Smith. Due to the rapid growth, it soon became necessary to find larger premises. In 2014, having moved twice previously, TGW Limited moved to a ‘custom-designed’ building called Falcon Court. The front of the building includes a fully operational Mustang Evolution miniload that not only enhances the visitor experience but is used to store site and safety equipment for engineers. In 2016, TGW Limited acquired a second building (Hawk House) a mere stone’s throw from Falcon Court.

In addition to experienced Sales & Realisation teams, TGW Limited also has a strong Lifetime Service team. This team of engineers and technicians is available 24/7 to provide customers with the necessary support when and where needed, via a hotline service or local intervention. TGW Limited also boasts a significant number of on-site, residential engineers.

German electronics specialist Würth Elektronik eiSos opted for TGW solutions last year.

Infosys, a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting has partnered with automotive logistics specialist GEFCO to support its digital transformation over the next five years.

As a key business and technology partner of GEFCO, Infosys will help transform the group’s next-generation business application management services. Building upon the foundation of these services, Infosys will also leverage its Live Enterprise Suite to help GEFCO evolve into a ‘Digital Native’ organisation. This will enable new supply chain capabilities to extract and process information in real-time and generate purposeful insights with very low latency to help GEFCO respond intelligently and effectively across the value chain.

The end objective is to help GEFCO create new sustainable sources of competitive advantage and continuously improve value for its customers.