Rhenus Logistics will take over nine air and sea freight sites in Germany belonging to BLG International Forwarding. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com.
Rhenus Air and Ocean announced this week it will acquire the forwarding business of BLG Logistics to expand into new markets and consolidate its international ocean freight and air cargo volume passing through the company’s German gateways.
The acquisition is the latest in a series of international forwarding takeovers in the highly fragmented logistics sector, which over the past year has experienced changes in demand patterns and significant increases in e-commerce volume.
If the BLG deal is approved by competition regulators, Rhenus on April 1 will take over nine air and sea freight sites in Germany belonging to BLG International Forwarding, integrating the facilities into the existing network of Rhenus Air and Ocean in Germany. The takeover price was not disclosed.
The forwarding facilities to be added in Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich will enable the company to handle greater volumes through a less-than-containerload (LCL) hub in Hilden, and an air freight hub at Frankfurt.
Stefan Schwind, managing director of Rhenus Air and Ocean Deutschland, said the company has been growing its volume in air and ocean for the past few years, and this acquisition would allow the consolidation of its network in Germany.
“We’d also like to develop new lines of business like transporting food using reefer containers and activities in the trade fair and event logistics sector,” he said in a statement this week.
BLG Logistics will focus on domestic and international business in its contract, automobile, and container divisions, and the Rhenus network will remain available after the acquisition. BLG’s forwarding site in Bremen, which focuses on overland traffic, transporting heavy goods, project business, and sea freight, is excluded from the takeover.
“BLG is strategically adapting to changes in market conditions through the sale of our freight forwarding business,” said Jens Wollesen, a board member at BLG. “Even if we’ll no longer be represented right across Germany in terms of freight forwarding in future, we’ll continue to provide extensive international services.”
Fragmented forwarding sector ripe for takeovers
Earlier this month, Chinese express logistics provider SF Holdings acquired a majority stake in Hong-Kong based Kerry Logistics for $2.3 billion, a move that will expand its international footprint.
Forwarder JAS Worldwide in January acquired supply chain service provider Tigers to expand its e-commerce capabilities, while late last year international freight forwarder AIT Worldwide Logistics made a pair of e-commerce acquisitions, buying Fiege Forwarding from Germany-based parent company FIEGE Group in December after it took over UK-based Panther Logistics in November.
Also in January, private equity firm Ridgemont Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in global forwarder SEKO Logistics for an undisclosed sum.
One of Europe’s largest forwarders that has been an active acquirer within the logistics sector over the past few years has been DSV, and the Danish forwarder’s CFO, Jens Lund, said the company’s appetite for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) was “bigger than ever before.”
“We want to consolidate our industry, which is very fragmented, so we’ll be much more active in 2021, exploring different opportunities, and there are certain cases we are excited about,” he told analysts on a 2020 earnings call last week. DSV bought Panalpina in August 2019 for $5.2 billion and its integration is almost complete.
“In an ideal world, we would wait a little bit, because we still need to digest Panalpina fully, but we also need to be opportunistic. If a particular opportunity arises, we will have to be ready to act upon it.”
Contact Greg Knowler at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter: @greg_knowler.
