AHLERS
With a maritime history going back 106 years , Belgian familyowned logistics group Ahlers has a lot to be proud of . Nevertheless , the company prefers to look forward and is rapidly reinventing itself . Horizontal Collaboration , Value Added Services and Big Data are the new waypoints to make Ahlers and its customers future-proof .
Ahlers 4.0 : starting a new chapter Ahlers originally began operations back in 1909 as a shipping agency in the Port of Antwerp . Surviving two World Wars , it steadily grew into a major Belgian carrier with its own vessels and afterwards evolved into an international freight forwarder and warehouse provider .
Towards the end of the 20th century , the company had established a solid footprint in Europe but also in emerging markets such as Russia , Ukraine , India and China . Always on the lookout for new opportunities , the latest chapter of the Ahlers history is all about innovation , partnerships and transparency .
Yves Verlinden , Sales Director at Ahlers , said : “ Although we have existed for 106 years , the company culture and family owners are constantly challenging us to reinvent ourselves . What I am seeing today makes me believe we are on the right track in that regard .”
“ Logistics and supply chain management are in rapid transformation and some time ago we noticed that the growth of our sales pipeline was slowing down because we failed to capitalise on the new trends that are shaping our highly dynamic industry .
“ While many of our services were still based on traditional red ocean business segments such as freight forwarding and warehousing , our customers were starting to ask for more innovative solutions that could help them compete better in their own industries .
52 September 2015