June 8, 2021

Integrating Contract Logistics and Freight Forwarding Services in EMEA.

In May 2020, Jason Stretton was appointed as Regional Vice President, of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Rejoining Crane Worldwide Logistics to develop, streamline and enhance logistics operations for our clients, progress has been made, expanding our contract logistics services and freight forwarding capabilities to develop integrated logistics solutions that enhance supply chain value and efficiencies.

Jason recently took part in our 'Coffee with Crane' podcast series discussing achievements to date in EMEA and our expansion plans for the future to develop client relationships in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Jason is based at Crane Worldwide Logistics office in Shannon, Ireland and oversees our operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Below is an exert from the podcast interview. 

What are key areas that Crane Worldwide are focusing upon in Europe, Middle East and Africa?

This year has brought unprecedented challenges for all in the logistics market. Obviously, first of all we encountered the pandemic that not only presented unique logistics challenges for the industry but also for working life in general with 'stay at home' mandates. We also had the Brexit situation with the United Kingdom leaving the European Union that presented unique supply chain challenges for our clients in many ways.

We have been navigating both the COVID pandemic and Brexit this year however we have had a successful year and we are driving forward with our plans in 2021. Everyone in the logistics industry understands that it is a tough industry in general, but this past year has increased the focus on supply chains and highlighted that it takes dedicated people in the freight forwarding and logistics industry to keep global supply chains moving.

It is no secret that the ocean freight market is increasingly volatile, what do you think the ocean freight market looks like in the future? 

The ocean market is facing challenging times for a number of reasons, container availability - container stocks have been very low due to cancelled orders, the normal logistics of those containers in terms of positioning is not as it had been pre-pandemic. Ocean freight relies heavily on container availability so that does present a challenge.

Ocean freight vessels are also over booked and the ocean market is experiencing turmoil that we have never seen before. This brings a lot of cost pressure to our clients. It is therefore our responsibility to ensure we have delivery solutions at this difficult time. It will continue into the foreseeable future and we will continue to be as flexible as possible to respond to the constraints that are being experienced currently. We believe in being the client advocate and partnering with our clients to build logistics solutions.

In spite of the COVID and Brexit challenges, the Europe, Middle East and Africa region is growing, can you tell us more?

There is no question that success is due to the people in our business and this is the same across the logistics industry. It takes a certain type of person to work in the logistics industry and we are fortunate to have dedicated logistics experts across our business in all of our countries. The team has continued to work with resilience and dedication to our clients and to Crane Worldwide. We needed to create a safe working environment for them, stay connected and engaged using technology to drive team spirit, communication, collaboration and daily engagement which was our first step.

Due to the challenging logistics market, our people have had to look for alternative logistics services for our client's supply chains. Our people have brought value to our clients offering flexibility and responsiveness with integrated logistics solutions. We have seen a lot of growth around our contract logistics and e-commerce capabilities and we incorporate our transportation services and customs solutions to provide additional value to our clients.

Crane Worldwide in EMEA has opened four new warehouse facilities over the past 4-5 months in EMEA, a new warehouse location in Dublin, a significant investment in a warehouse facility near Birmingham in the United Kingdom, a new warehouse facility at Schiphol, Amsterdam is in the opening phase and a great new warehouse location in Johannesburg in South Africa. 

You can listen to all our episodes here or anywhere you podcast (Spotify, Google Podcast, or Apple Podcast).

Reach out below if you have an inquiry for our Europe, Middle East and Africa team, we are here to help!