In the anniversary edition of our magazine, we gave companies in the maritime and logistics sector a chance to put themselves in the spotlight. In this contribution, managing director Chris Verhulst introduces Seafrigo Group Belgium.
Seafrigo Group headquartered in Le Havre, France, has been a global expert in controlled-temperature food logistics for 45 years. “We operate globally in 5 continents with 28 offices. Together with some 3,000 employees, we provide an integrated and high-quality story for our customers,” says Chris Verhulst, managing director of Seafrigo Group Belgium. “We started as a local French player and today we are a global organisation with a turnover of almost a billion euros by 2023.”
Seafrigo Group has been around since 1979. When did you start in Antwerp?
“We have been active in Antwerp since 2005 with the opening of a freight management office. Later, we took over 16,000 square metres of refrigerated warehouses and 40 employees from Antwerp Cold Stores on the Antwerp left bank. A year later, we started our own transport organisation, enabling us to fulfil our offer as an integrator. From Antwerp, we work with Belgium’s major food producers with international networked customers in addition.”
There is often talk of changing climate conditions. What impact does this have on temperature-controlled food transport?
“Globally, you see the impact of climate much more than locally. We obviously have to evolve with sustainable business, because globally the supply chain is coming under pressure. For instance, lead times are becoming much shorter and it is thus becoming much more difficult to ship products between continents in a sustainable way. This then not only has to do with temperature, but also quality requirements in food logistics.”
Flows has been around for 10 years. How have you seen the sector evolve over the past 10 years?
“There is much more focus on the customer. You used to have logistics parties who took care of certain bits in the chain and specialised in them. Today, you see a big movement towards a fully integrated and customer-oriented organisation. How can we put the customer at the centre and conduct a value proposition around that that is important for the customer and his sector. In this way, you see that our customers have become more demanding when it comes to quality, safety and flexibility. Customers expect you to come up with total solutions in terms of sea and land transport. This makes a global network vital for your organisation and that is exactly what we offer at Seafrigo.”
How are you looking at 2024?
“Cost control will be a major focus point in 2024. Shipping companies have an oversupply of vessels and availability which also makes our customers pay very close attention to prices and costs. We will have to emphasise our added value in integrated food logistics even more than before to keep our customers close to us. I am convinced that Seafrigo has the right foundation to make a difference in these challenging market conditions.”
