Acquisitions strengthen pharma hub

Focus on cross-selling

Things are going well for GEODIS. With the recent acquisition of Trans-o-flex, it is strengthening its pharmapod, and with the construction of a sustainable logistics campus in Venlo, the Netherlands, the company aims to respond to the strong growth of e-commerce, and boost its position in the contract logistics market.

"A GEODIS survey of our Belgian customers shows that only a quarter of them work exclusively with us. There are still a lot of growth opportunities for us there. We are mainly known for freight forwarding and contract logistics, while we can actually offer them a complete solution for their logistics. End-to-end, from warehouse to the front door, from customer to customer, including the last mile," says Jean-Baptiste Elslander, Deputy Managing Director for Belgium. "Air freight, sea freight, road transport, contract logistics ... it's all possible with us. Hence, we want to put an increasing focus on cross-selling. GEODIS can be the single point of contact for many customers to get their goods from a to z. Because we are an international group, we can do that worldwide. Not only for industrial goods where we have long earned our spurs, but also increasingly for pharma and healthcare goods."

Temperature-controlled transport

A lot of large pharmaceutical companies have a site in our country. GEODIS wants to capitalize more strongly on this logistical opportunity. Having previously acquired French company Gandon, it has now completed the acquisition of Trans-o-flex, a leading German network for temperature-controlled pharmaceutical goods and express deliveries. "This acquisition makes us one of the most prominent players in the important healthcare market and significantly expands our delivery capabilities in Europe. Trans-o-flex supplies all hospitals and pharmacies in Germany and Austria. It is an important support for our pharma airfreight hub in Brussels, as we can now also commercialize subsequent lane transport from our country. We want to enable Trans-o-flex to consolidate its market position in Germany and expand to the largest European countries. It is part of our ambition to develop our global end-to-end logistics solutions to support the growth and geographic expansion of our customers."

Expansion of Benelux-Germany-Poland corridor

A 210,000 m2 contract logistics site in Venlo will be GEODIS' new flagship. Customers from different vertical sectors can use it to accommodate the growth of their e-commerce. "The Venlo region is one of Europe's top spots for logistics activities, located near the Dutch border with Germany. It acts as a link between the nearby air and sea ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp, and the continent's key industrial markets," adds Mark van den Assem, managing director Benelux. "Trade Port Noord has excellent connections to Europe's multimodal infrastructure by road, river, rail, sea and air. This makes it the ideal location for GEODIS to handle cargo flows for international customers and manage their warehousing and logistics needs using our European distribution network. At the same time, we are also expanding our Benelux-Germany-Poland corridor. With our team in Venlo, we are also continuing to expand our contract logistics arm in Belgium."

Crossdocking in Schoten

GEODIS also wants to make its customers more aware of cross-selling opportunities in the French market. "Hence, our northern French offices will be present at the Transport & Logistics fair to explain our groupage solutions to and from France. We are the market leader in France in that field and we want to highlight that expertise more clearly." 

"I would like to add," Mark concludes, "that we have a warehouse in Schoten on the Albert Canal for the cross-docking of our containers and European distribution, as is done at Brucargo for air transport." ■