GLS and its Portuguese network partner Personalis S.A., headquartered in Lisbon, have founded ajoint venture – GLS Portugal. The agreements were signed on September 23rd and operations will
start on November 1st. “GLS holds 51 per cent of the company”, said Rico Back, CEO of GeneralLogistics Systems B.V., Amsterdam.Personalis managing directior Karim Issa and Saadi Al-Soudani, managing director of GLSInternational, are taking over the management of GLS Portugal. The Portuguese parcel and expressservice company Personalis, founded in 1991, is transferring its operations to the new jointventure. “We are implementing standardised and high-quality processes in GLS Portugal which meetthe GLS European standards“, the two managing directors said. “The increase in service quality willcatapult GLS Portugal to 3rd place on the Portuguese market in the next few years.”
GLS said preparations for the start of operation on November 1st are currently on at full speed.“Both the information technology as well as the complete software and hardware architecture will bereplaced and adapted to the newest GLS standard“, explains Saadi Al-Soudani. “In addition we willoptimise the processes of parcel handling and invest in new parcel sorting technology in Lisbon andPorto.”
The GLS brand will be visible everywhere by November of this year. By this time, not only thebuildings will show GLS Portugal’s logo. The employees and delivery drivers will also be wearingnew GLS work clothing and will be driving vehicles labelled with the GLS design.
In addition to headquarters and the main transhipment centre in Lisbon, six more depots andapproximately 250 vehicles at different locations throughout the country ensure full area-wideservice for customers. “Being part of the GLS Group makes it possible for us to offer our customersaccess to the European market”, states Karim Issa. “We particularly expect an increase in ourexport rates in the next few years. In terms of quality, we will be the number 1 in Europe.”
