Our customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They value service reliability, space availability, flexibility of inventory management and visibility in their supply chain over short-term price considerations.
In 2006, the larger European economies remained stable, the European Union (EU) prepared to expand to 27 nations, and the trend to migrate sourcing and manufacturing of goods to lower cost locations continued. These factors combined to keep the European import trades expanding apace.
On the liner side, our Europe trade volumes grew by 6% in 2006. Our Asia-Europe trade posted a healthy 8% rise over the prior year.
Transatlantic volumes were down slightly, reflecting our ongoing focus on yield maximisation via changes in trade volume mix.
Our liner business enjoyed a healthy share of these trades and expanded its presence in the fast-growing Russian and Baltic markets.
In 2006, we strengthened our logistics organisation in Europe and secured new business in key verticals.
In the Benelux countries, our APL Logistics business recorded new business wins, including the industrial and fashion apparel sectors, among others.
Container volumes from our Transatlantic and Asia-Europe trades totalled 533,000 FEU for the year.
As in most other trades, the longer-term demand outlook is bright. NOL-commissioned research indicates that Asian trade alone will add 7.5 million TEU to the import volumes of Eastern Europe over the next decade.
Intra-European growth is also rapid as consumer buying power and manufacturing capability develops in the region.
Improved accessibility to the Former Soviet states and the Eastern Bloc nations, many of whom have now acceded to the EU, through both the Baltic and the Black Sea is being exploited for export and import cargoes.
We responded emphatically to this gradual eastward shift of Europe’s economic centre of gravity. By tapping into the rich source of talented industry experts in these new markets, we have established our own operations in the three Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, matching the existing organisation in Russia.
Services in the region have been enhanced by APL’s Lower Baltic Express (LBX) service. The launch of the weekly LBX was a response to strong import and export demand from customers.
Other important service developments included the launch of the Atlantic South Express (ASX) Service. The ASX offers some of the industry’s fastest transit times between Northern Europe and the Southeastern US.
The ASX expanded our coverage in the UK by making APL’s first-ever call at the London port of Tilbury. It is also the first APL service to call at Savannah, Georgia.
In the Mediterranean, there was also office expansion in Israel, Lebanon, Portugal and Spain.
Global outsourcing is a trend that is also significantly expanding exports from Turkey. APL Logistics’ success with a major UK retailer, has come as a consequence of our past investment in an operational structure in Turkey. Further development in this region is planned to accompany expansion in the Baltic States, Russia and Spain.
APL Logistics has also seen the development of Holistica, which combines the complementary capabilities of our European land-based distribution and warehousing partner, Christian Salvesen with APL Logistics global presence and strength in Asia. Holistica will enable us to better meet customers’ needs (see below).
As witnessed in the US, with dynamic trade growth comes the challenges presented by infrastructure choke points, which continue to be significant – particularly within Europe’s inland infrastructure.
However, the situation creates a good opportunity for the NOL Group to differentiate its premium container transportation and logistics services. As we move forward, our customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They value service reliability, space availability, flexibility of inventory management and visibility in their supply chain over short-term price considerations.
Holistic approach delivers smoother connections | |
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As world trade activity continues to grow, our major retail customers in Europe sought faster, more efficient global movement of goods. In order to keep pace with consumer demand, they needed a managed, end-to-end global supply chain. Our response to this need was ‘Holistica’ an alliance between APL Logistics and European warehousing and distribution company Christian Salvesen. |
Headquartered in the UK, Holistica was the realisation of an objective of both partners – to develop an international service, using existing capabilities to meet the growing and changing needs of the market. Holistica represents an ideal fit, combining the considerable skills of the partners to offer our European customers a new, seamless global supply chain, adding flexibility and efficiency to their businesses. |
Benelux: While we have a long tradition of transporting perishables in 2006 we also won business in new areas such as fashion logistics.
