For independent
groupage
operator CFR
Freight, which
celebrates 22 years in
business this year, the
future as the past is
all about adapting
and diversifying.
When Uli
Hatesohl
established the
company in 1991,
the two-person
operation offered a
seafreight groupage
service between Antwerp
and Durban. The company
now provides more than
2 000 direct seafreight
services globally through
its partnership with the World Wide
Alliance. And while it has never
deviated from its core philosophy
– which is to offer an independent
NVOCC service exclusively to freight
forwarders – it has expanded way
beyond this initial focus.
“We are the only truly neutral
NVOCC operating air and sea services
as well as a Customs-licensed depot
with packing and unpacking facilities
all under one roof,” director Peter
Schmidt-Löffler told FTW.
The depot facilities, operated under
the ZacPak brand, are the latest in a
raft of new services.
Over the past two decades, CFR
has moved groupage cargo by air and
sea to every corner of the globe, said
Schmidt-Löffler. “In an increasingly
competitive market it’s important for
every service provider to add value that
differentiates you from the pack – and
we believe our ZacPak service is that
differentiator.”
Three years since the launch of
ZacPak in Cape Town, its Durban
operation is now up and running with
Johannesburg due to come on stream
at the end of this year.
The future is all about change –
stepping out of your comfort zone
to revisit and remodel conventional
business plans – and CFR is up for the
challenge.
INSERT & CAPTION
Adding value that
differentiates us from
the pack.
– Peter Schmidt-Löffler
