Well prepared
The Munich-based logistician has recorded increasing demand for warehouse space and handling in the airfreight and parcels segments. Brexit brought in some new clients.
Brexit represented great risks for many shippers, didn’t it, Mr Jocher? How did your Group7 transform it into an opportunity?
We supplied our clients with plenty of advance information and set up the pre-lodging procedure. This means that data for customs authorities is already available when the lorry arrives by overland route in Calais or Dover. It can thus be processed rapidly without losing any time. On top of this, recommendations brought in so many new customers that our results for consignments trucked between Germany and the UK in January grew by 40% vis-à-vis the same month in 2020.
Customs processes are key. How is your team positioned?
We’ve got customs experts in situ at every one of our nine German sites, and a special customs unit at our Munich headquarters. It’s a great all-round team.
To what extent are B2C activities, spurred on by the trend towards e-commerce, part of your operations?
Ever more parcels are bundled in groupage operations. Demand for the transport of parcels to the UK has grown significantly, particularly over the last few days. In the airfreight segment our Kelsterbach centre near Frankfurt registered a 20% increase in consignments in January vis-à-vis the previous year. That’s 2,000 consignments. We had to bring in a dozen new employees to cope with re-packaging, labelling, customs clearance and distribution.
How have you coped with the dearth of airfreight capacities, especially in belly-holds?
Close links to airlines help, for example through Lufthansa’s partnership programme, and we’ve entered into blocktime agreements. In 2020 we organised three charter flights per week at times and imported 30 million masks and 1 million protective suits from China.
How are the warehouse and new centre in Hamburg doing?
The outbreak of Covid-19 triggered great demand for space. Many of our new customers have stayed true to us.
The new Hamburg facility has been approved; the ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled for Q1; and we expect to commence operations there in mid-2022. The multi-user facility will offer modern picking and packing technology and robot support, and sport a huge solar power plant on the roof. It will save approximately 850,000 kWh a year, enough to power around 14,000 fridges.
What are the major trends you expect to see in 2021?
Shipments will change. We used to be asked to ship ten pallets to a hub; in future, on account of the e-commerce boom, I expect we’ll have to send 2,000 parcels to individual consumers. Pharmaceuticals will become more important. And finally, there’ll be a shift of international imports from the UK to Europe. As London becomes less attractive as a gateway to Europe, on account of Brexit, continental European hubs – such as Frankfurt – will gain ground.
