At the beginning of September 2019, Hellmann opened its first own air and sea freight branch in France. With this forward-looking investment, we are closing a gap in our European network after the termination of our cooperation with Heppner for air and sea freight.

The branch is located in Villepinte, not far from Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris. Fromhere, the French branch network is to be expanded in order to continuously strengthen our market position. Our focus here, is on existing multinational customers who are already working with us in other parts of the world and who have indicated a need for a location in France. In addition, we intend to increasingly win local, medium-sized customers as well.

"The air and sea freight business has continuously developed well in Europe in recent years and we now have the necessary independence to actively drive growth even further. The establishment of our own Hellmann network in France is an important building block in our European growth strategy, particularly with a view to the further development and expansion of hub/gateway systems in the LCL product segment," says Reiner Heiken, CEO Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.

In addition to our own team, we have access to a strong handling agent for the initial phase, so that all logistical processes - also in the ports of Marseille and LeHavre - can be optimally offered from the outset. Alex Delrue will assume the operational management of the new legal entity in France in addition to his function as Managing Director of Hellmann Spain. The local activities will be managed by Monika Khemmache and supported by the sales activities of the globally active industry specialists and the regional product management.

"The potential in France is enormous because we can now optimally connect our strategic key accounts, which areserved by global teams all over the world, to the worldwide Hellmann network," says Jens Tarnowski, CEO Region Europe Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.

The decision to establish its own legal entity in France follows the termination of many years of cooperation with the partner Heppner in the Air & Sea sector. The successful cooperation between Hellmann and Heppner will continue as a cooperation in the land transport sector between Germany and France, as well as in the joint management of a logistics location near Paris.