After its acquisition of Kenya-based forwarder Air Connection, Panalpina is now to acquire the Dutch company Interfresh Airfreight Handling. Interfresh specializes in the customs clearance and last-mile distribution of imported perishables from Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. This represents another step in building its global perishables business, where it hopes to become a market leader by 2020.
Panalpina will acquire the Dutch company Interfresh Airfreight Handling as well as its sister companies Fresh Cargo Connection and Dutch Cargo Connection, subject to conditions. All three companies are fully owned by CEO and founder of Interfresh, Sonja Kauffman, who will join Panalpina as the new country head of Perishables for the Netherlands.
“By acquiring Interfresh we gain full control over the cool chain for one of the perishables industry’s most important trade lanes for flowers – from Nairobi to Amsterdam and beyond,” says Panalpina CEO Stefan Karlen. “It is also a logical transaction as the primary customer of Interfresh is Air Connection, the Kenya-based forwarder that we successfully acquired earlier this year.”
The latest acquisition allows Panalpina to expand its perishables offering in the Netherlands. Having its own fleet of vehicles, Interfresh specializes in the customs clearance and last-mile distribution of imported flowers from Kenya and different types of perishables from many origin countries in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Fresh Cargo Connection acts as a fiscal representative for customers and Dutch Cargo Connection provides services for other perishables such as fish, fruit, vegetables and mushrooms. Located at Schiphol Airport with offices, a cold storage facility and an experienced team, the three companies handle around 20,000 tons of perishables air freight per year. Other important origin countries besides Kenya are Sri Lanka, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Ethiopia, Turkey, Colombia and Ecuador.
“The acquisition in the Netherlands is another significant step in building Panalpina’s global Perishables Network and offering complete end-to-end solutions on a global scale. It also exemplifies how we expand our presence and expertise in destination countries and at major transportation hubs for perishables,” concludes Karlen.
Source: Panalpina
