As one of the world ’ s premier logistics service providers , the Belgian company ’ s reputation has steadily grown since being founded in 1854 by four working partners handling cotton goods in their native country .

Now with operations in North and South America , Africa , Asia and the Middle East as well as Europe , Katoen Natie , though still familyowned , employs over 13,000 workers worldwide , building on-site , support and multi-customer platforms to smoothen the supply chain for many of the world ’ s biggest companies .

Arnaud Derbaudrenghien is Managing Director of one of the business units in Thailand , where it works side-by-side with customers in the country ’ s eastern province of Rayong . He explains how the company ’ s close relationships with its partners work .

“ As a company we try to work on a longer-term base with our customers , and because of that we have grown to be a multinational company operating all over the world ,” says Derbaudrenghien .

“ We work with multinationals in Thailand who have the same international standards . We provide state of the art facilities , together with our processes and our trained teams which can provide the premium services our customers require . We have customers like BMW , Ford and Suzuki , but we also work with the first tier and second tier suppliers of these companies . Basically , we build up a network within our customers that goes through the whole loop of the supply chain .

“ We are not in it for a quick shot

94 November 2017