New Managing Director at a. hartrodt in Portugal

Since August 1, 2023, a. hartrodt Portugal in Porto has a female Managing Director in Sandra Pereira. The 43-year-old has profound market knowledge and has worked as Director Sales and Business Development in the family-owned company for nine years. She gained sales experience with various freight forwarders and shipping agents. She succeeds Carlos Ferreira, who has very successfully managed a. hartrodt's Portuguese company since its foundation in 2014. As part of a joint, wise succession planning, Carlos Ferreira will retain his position on the Board of a. hartrodt Portugal as Regional Sales Manager for the Mediterranean and Southern Africa region (Med/Africa Region).

Portugal: Lisbon office and warehouse expansion planned in Porto

Sandra Pereira is pursuing "a clear growth strategy", which consists of "diversifying our business areas". Key on her agenda is the establishment of an air freight division – for which a. hartrodt will open an office in Lisbon at the end of October. In addition, the international freight forwarder intends to expand its warehouse and logistics division for various segments of commodities on a 33,000-square-meter plot of land in the Porto region and build a suitable facility.

Med/Africa Region: Direct consolidation via Genoa Med hub

As Regional Sales Manager, Carlos Ferreira's strategy is to "enable substantial growth" for a. hartrodt in the Med/Africa Region with further locations in Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey and South Africa, as he explained in June at the Regional Sales Meeting in Porto. As a unique selling point in sea freight, he highlights direct consolidation services for all Mediterranean country organizations via the company's own Med hub in Genoa (Italy) to Australia or via the Hong Kong hub to mainland China. Investments have been made in sales personnel in Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and South Africa. In addition, South Africa is recording important intra-African growth.

In the Med/Africa Region, a. hartrodt employs 124 people at 11 locations, 13 of them in Portugal. Own warehouse space was most recently expanded in Genoa to more than 3,400 square meters at the beginning of January.