Ahlers, the international logistic and maritime group with headquarters in Antwerp (Europe) decided during its worldwide board meeting held in Mumbai to further expand in India.
Ahlers India, present today in 11 cities in India plans to open new offices and to invest in logistic hardware through multiple avenues in India.
Ahlers realized a turnover of 246 million euro in 2010 (compared to 238 million in 2009), whereby the share of the Asian business increased from 26% to 30%.
“Ahlers India is the key in our expansion plans for the next years”, declared Luc Maton, Regional General Manager Asia. “India’s growth potential is impressive and logistics have to develop accordingly making it a major growth market of Ahlers as a group. We realized a 9% growth in India in 2010 and with more liner agency representations we are aiming for a double digit growth in 2011.”
“Thanks to a strong and experienced management team composed of Pradeep Joseph as General Manager and Vishwanathan Krishnan and Supratim Majumdar as Deputy General Managers, we support further expansion in offices and staff and will also consider investment in infrastructure”, says Christian Leysen, Chairman and CEO - Ahlers. “Holding the Ahlers worldwide board in Mumbai shows our appreciation of past achievements as well as our support to the further expansion in India.”
“Ahlers has known significant growth in terms of offices and business volumes for the past 7 years. Our strength is the possibility to offer customized solutions to challenging markets such as CIS and Africa as well as major growth markets as China offering total logistics packages under one roof and break bulk solutions for major projects. What sets Ahlers apart is the committed and experienced staff heading and servicing of each business model and the excellent team spirit in our organization where employee satisfaction and their growth opportunity is paramount”, said, Pradeep Joseph, General Manager Ahlers India.
On April 1, Ahlers organized a workshop for customers and partners in Mumbai on “The new economic world order & impact on the trade - New trends in shipping and logistics” giving the floor to Indian experts as well as specialists flown in from both CIS and China. During the event the opening of new offices in Urumqi (China) and Aktau (Kazakstan) was announced. The workshop was concluded by a party to celebrate Ahlers India’s success and the first board of Ahlers worldwide in India.
About Ahlers
Ahlers is active in maritime services, agencies, forwarding and contract logistics and employs more than 1000 people worldwide. The company was founded in 1909 in Antwerp and is privately owned. It expanded the past twenty years with own offices in Asia, CIS and Africa. Ahlers India was founded in 2004 and employs actually more than 140 people.
