Basic HTML Version
A member of the board, having served
Geodis for 12 years, Allhoff (pictured
seated with a blue tie) manages
around 50 key customers centrally
for the company. At Geodis corporate
accounts are managed across the
different business units. Corporate
accounts are the 50 largest clients
of the group. They are managed
centrally, in order to coordinate
their activities most effectively
across all lines of business (out of
freight forwarding (the largest), road
transport, railfreight, ocean or contract
logistics).
These corporate accounts have an
average revenue value of €25m, so at
over €1 billion in total they represent
about one seventh of total group
turnover. “We’re moving customers
who have growth potential into our
key account portfolio,” Allhoff told me.
“Many of these 50 are French, such as
Alstom and Schneider, but the majority
are not.” VW, ABB, Siemens and GE are
all key corporate accounts.
Ecommerce is, of course, a fast-
growing sector and so naturally one
that Geodis are focusing on. “We
operate dedicated delivery in France
for non-sortable/non-carton and
oversized items (e.g. electrical goods).
One of our most dynamic customers
in this sector is Amazon, for whom we
can deploy every mode of transport,”
Allhoff informed me. “We started
with them as a key account utilizing
road shuttles, then full distribution
and contract logistics. We offer some
dedicated processes at a new facility
in France, a 12m high-bay in Milan
plus a Hannover DC. We’re now using
airfreight to transport Kindles and
freight forwarding services.”
I asked Allhoff about other VIP clients.
For Louis Vuitton (LVMH) Geodis
handle contract logistics for wines and
spirits, as well as fiscal representation
– duties and customs. Warehouses in
China are used to import, store and
label LVMH luxury goods, such as
Givenchy and Marc Jacobs, that are
then delivered to stores. Geodis even
manage new store openings, reverse
logistics and reconditioning for this
customer.
“A key account using more than
2 modes of transport normally
becomes a corporate account. From
this central position we can offer
flow management and supply chain
management, with all the necessary
IT,” he adds. “We’re focused on 6
strategic markets: automotive, hi-tech,
industrial, FMCG, retail, aerospace
and defence. Our lines of business
are further specialized in additional
industry solutions. We tender for
most contracts within these sectors.
For example, within ‘industrial’
we’re strong in oil & gas and project
management. For Siemens we operate
train wagon transport and for GE we
serve their oil & gas and healthcare
divisions.”
Know-how, in location
At Transport Logistics Munich
David Priestman
met Jean-Pierre Allhoff, Executive Vice-President
of Geodis – the man in charge of corporate global accounts for the logistics solutions provider.
8
Logistics Business Magazine | September 2015
Freight Forwarding