“Own risk – own management”
Just a few months have passed since DP World took over P & O Ferrymasters. The move accelerated the transformation of P & O Ferries’ logistics subsidiary from a British company to a logistics operator that aims to spread beyond the borders of Europe. In Rotterdam managing director Bas Belder provided Christian Doepgen with insights into the company’s current situation, its locations and prospects.
You operate 20 locations in 13 European countries today, don’t you, Mr Belder. What are the prospects for P & O Ferrymasters beyond Turkey – in the eastern Mediterranean, for example?
Turkey is indeed our central hub in a region where we have big plans. Together with our newly-appointed country director Murat Bog – he took office in July – we intend to substantially expand our freight business there. Our policy will see us focus mainly on local specialists.
In what general direction are you heading?
We’re interested in the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Central Asian countries. We can also link up with our existing connections in Southeastern Europe.
To what extent is P & O Ferrymasters established in this region now?
Our central location for the region is in Budapest, but we also operate our own terminal in the Romanian city of Oradea, near the border with Hungary. Early in October we set up a 48-hour service from there to Łódz (Poland); it will run thrice weekly from 2020 onwards. We plan to extend this connection to Constantza shortly.
What about the southern Mediterranean?
The region will be served from Lyon, our French hub, and through our local activities, for example in Tunisia. We’re currently expanding our customer base.
What is your assessment of multimodal transport’s situation?
We’re in a growth phase. We bank on our own blocktrains from Oradea, for example. We operate them at our own risk, but also under our own management. Two trains a week run from there to Piacenza (Italy), for example, as well as three to Zeebrugge (Belgium). We also operate a Rotterdam – Poznan connection on a daily basis.
Do you also deploy any assets of your own?
Not in the freight management segment, where we work on a charter basis. It’s nevertheless proven to be well worth the effort of keeping our own fleet of trailers and containers going. All the trailers we use, including those of our subcontractors, have been equipped with GPS units since 2016. We also run an internal freight platform for these independent companies, by the way.
What’s your position in logistics?
We aim for a long-term commitment and to provide our customers with a basis for their long-term plans. Here in the Rotterdam Europoort, for example, our new 17,000 sqm warehouse is set to open for business in November. We’ve taken out a ten-year lease on the facility; two thirds of it is already fully booked.
What about new services at sea?
Our location in Tilbury, which is about 30 km east of London, will be enhanced by the addition of another connection to and from Calais. We’ll have the capacity to handle 600,000 units a year at our P & O location in Tilbury by April 2020 – up from 200,000 a year today. That would be almost half of the overall total of 1.3 million units that pass through Dover every year.
Can we expect P & O Ferrymasters to make any acquisitions in the near future?
Our focus is on organic growth – if an opportunity arises we’ll take it.
What growth rates are you aiming for?
Having posted double-digit figures recently, we now expect annual growth of 7 – 10% over the next five years.
