The Logistics World Alliance (LWA), launched in Paris this week, unites five of Europe's major logistics companies who will offer intelligent and integrated approaches to international supply chains.
The alliance members are: Azkar (Spain & Portugal), Bartolini (Italy), Bibby Distribution (UK), MGF Logistique (France) and the Rhenus group (Germany).
Between them, the alliance members have 24,800 employees, 10,000 vehicles, 500 sites in Europe and Asia, access to more than 2.5 million square metres of storage space, and annual sales of €2.4 billion.
The European office of the alliance is at the Rhenus HQ in Holzwickede, Germany.
Iain Speak, COO of Bibby Distribution, said: “Logistics groups who are active worldwide often find it hard to meet the high standards specified for all the countries involved. This is an opportunity for LWA in that each of the member companies specialises in certain markets. At the same time we work from a joint platform, which ensures smooth integration across national and corporate boundaries.”
The LWA offers clients a complete range of high-grade contract logistics – from storage and handling to a variety of value-added services such as quality monitoring, repairs, and recycling. Geographically, the focus is on Europe; for intercontinental supply chains the Alliance works with proven partners in Asia.
The alliance practices a ‘One face to the customer’ approach, where a client determines conditions and services for all logistics firms involved through his contact, as opposed to making separate arrangements with each of the partners.
Cross-border integration of individual logistics solutions is supported by advanced approaches such as the Business Networking Platform. Developed by Rhenus, this system combines Internet techniques with functions derived from Enterprise Resource Planning. For example, an overseas customer can use the platform to monitor processes in individual European markets and to follow the development of previously defined indices.
About the LWA members:
Azkar (Iberia): a logistics company with a workforce of 5,000, storage space totalling 640,000 m2 of storage space and a fleet of 2,200 trucks. In 2005, Azkar posted a turnover of €330 million. During the last five years, Azkar invested just under €170 million into its Spanish and Portuguese sites.
Bartolini (Italy): an integrated logistics services provider with a workforce of 10,000 and more than 500,000 m2 of storage space. Bartolini delivers around 80 million parcels a year, and reported annual sales of €490 million.
Bibby Distribution (UK): a wholly owned subsidiary of the privately owned Bibby Line Group. Bibby is the UK’s largest family-owned logistics company, accounting for £123 million of the group’s total £254 million in revenues for 2004. It’s acquisition of Hammond Logistics Group in 2005 brought turnover to £160 million.
MGF Logistique (France): a logistics company belonging to the G7 group, which employs 1,440 people and has annual sales of €108 million. MGF has around 670,000 m2 of space at 47 sites in the Paris metropolitan area and in the north, southwest and southeast of France.
Rhenus group (Germany): a logistics company with more than 7,400 employees and 100 sites throughout Europe. With divisions such as contract logistics, port logistics and intermodal, the company manages complex supply chains and provides innovative value-added services, and achieves sales of €1.3 billion.
Co-operation partners of the alliance include the Seaways Group (India), the Shibusawa Warehouse Co (Japan), the UVK Co (Ukraine), Avalon Group (Russia), Elesco (Europe), and HECC Alliance
