Dachser USA Air & Sea Logistics looks to expand

The US arm of German forwarding group Dachser is looking for further expansion that saw a 16% surge in gross revenue to $192m in 2014 and a 23% rise in airfreight volumes to 22,000 tonnes.
Frank Guenzerodt, president and chief executive of Dachser USA Air & Sea Logistics, said that the aim is to have 25 locations across the US by 2018, up from 14 at present.
Said Guenzerodt: “In the US, airfreight is probably about 60% of our business, so while a mid-sized organisation here, we continue to grow quite quickly.
“We will focus on growing additional market share through sales key account management, acquiring larger customers and continuing to expand geographically in the US with new locations and new offices to complete our coverage.”
Family-owned Dachser has historically been an airfreight focused operation but in the past 15 years has grown its share of the ocean freight market, said Guenzerodt.
He added: “Airfreight continues to be the biggest part of the business and continues to be our focus to grow our company on a global scale as well.”
He continued: “As a European family owned company, the majority of the business is still on the transatlantic, although the transpacific is for us a faster growing area.”
In terms of its export gateway from Europe, Frankfurt airport in Germany is the key hub and also the base for one of Dachser’s major airline partners, Lufthansa.
“We put a lot through Frankfurt, not only from Germany but also from surrounding countries like Austria and Poland, some eastern Europe locations where we have a strong presence, and so important markets for us to focus on.”
Dachser in the US focuses on a number of verticals, with automotive at number one, followed by industrials, with plans to expand its footprint in the pharmaceuticals and life sciences sector on the back of an existing product.
Guenzerodt said inbound pharma traffic is “quite substantial”, with the largest tonnage contribution from India, alongside the traditional automotive and industrial goods from the sub-continent.
Dachser has around 30 offices in India, which makes it “very versed in customs clearance processes” in a country that can sometimes pose challenges for the uninitiated shipper.
“Everybody can do China, everybody can do the UK and Germany, but India, and in some degree Brazil, which is also a strong market for us, the processes are still a little mysterious for some shippers.
“So we use it as a door opener [to other markets] a lot of times because we perform well in India and Brazil”
As for growing its business in the US, Guenzerodt said: “We are doing this by focusing on mid- to larger-size customers and by providing solutions that go beyond just a pure A to B transport.
“We offer complete supply chain management, order monitoring, purchase order follow up systems. We aim to get in deeper with clients as opposed to competing purely on an airport to airport rate level.”
Geographical expansion will be in key countries where Dachser already has a heavy presence, like Greater China and India, especially the latter emerging market: “We are quite substantial in India, so there is a focus on airfreight in and out of India.”
There are also plans to offer more services to and from eastern Europe, a strategy that will be helped by further strengthening Dachser’s gateway concepts in Europe and building upon its significant road feeder services into Frankfurt as a main gateway for surrounding countries.
Dachser’s European trucking network has around 10,000 scheduled road feeder services per day within Europe: “That is a competitive advantage for us to feed airfreight into hubs,” said Guenzerodt.