French transport group Geodis Calberson has opened a new hub at Birmingham and launched a newEuropean service to Italy as part of its expansion plans in the UK, and also gained a distribution
contract for Slovenian beer in Britain.The investment comes after the company bucked the national trend in Britain during the recessionwith 15% growth each year for the past two years for its domestic and European services.
The new Birmingham International Hub will handle inbound and outbound European cargo for thepremium EUROTOP and EUROFIRST services. The 20,000 sq ft (1,850 sqm) facility is located on theMiddlemore Industrial Estate close to the heart of the UK’s motorway network and offers storagespace for some 1,500 pallets. All of the company’s import and export freight movements thatpreviously went through the Watford Gap facility will now be handled at Birmingham. Watford Gapwill continue to handle the Fortec Distribution Network, the palletised side of Geodis Calberson’soperations in the UK.
Jamie Cuthbert, managing director UK, said: “Geodis Calberson is experiencing fantastic growthin the UK and the opening of the new Birmingham International Hub is testament to the popularity ofour offerings. This move allows both the UK pallet business and our European services to continueto flourish. These are exciting times for Geodis Calberson. We will continue to expand ouroperations in response to customer demand and are looking forward to sustained growth over the nextfew years.”
Geodis Calberson has also launched a new direct daily service from Britain to Italy in responseto customer demand. Dedicated tractor units will be used on the daily runs, which represent a majorinvestment for the company.
The service offers 72-hour door-to-door services for EUROTOP and EUROFIRST shipments. Thestandard groupage service is also available on the route. EUROTOP, aimed at the high-end finishedconsumer goods market, offers rapid and reliable delivery, a dedicated customer service team andreal-time tracking. EUROFIRST offers a premium door-to-door delivery service with guaranteedjourney times of between 48-96 hours to 10 European countries and is suited to daily or partssuppliers delivering to distribution or repair centres.
Cuthbert said: “Our new daily service to Italy, with platforms in Milan and Bologna, is anexciting development which we believe will prove extremely popular. The daily runs will give ourexisting customers an improved service, with more choice, and will be a very attractive option fornew customers.”
Meanwhile, Geodis Calberson will be helping to introduce UK drinkers to Slovenian beers afterwinning a contract with Cambridge-based importer Lasko Beer. Under the rolling contract, GeodisCalberson will transport a range of bottled drinks including the Balkans’ best-selling Zlatoroglager, Lasko Export Gold, Lasko Dark and fruit-flavoured beers into the UK.
The company will collect the bottled drinks from the historic brewery at Lasko, Slovenia, whichis the largest brewery in the Balkan region, transport the consignments to its depot at HighWycombe, UK, from where it will pick orders and distribute the bottled drinks to handpickedwholesalers who will sell them into pubs.
Geodis Calberson UK has 11 sites, 340 employees and 65 independent licensees in the FortecPallet Network that enable it to provide transport and logistics solutions across the country.Major customers include Hugo Boss, IBM and Garmin.
