2024 a. hartrodt continues to invest in high service quality

Energy crisis in Europe, weakening economy in China, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East: "2023 brought more hurdles than we had expected," says Jan van Tienhoven, Managing Partner of a. hartrodt, looking back on twelve turbulent months. Andreas Schroen, Chief Financial Officer at the Management Holding, also found the financial year "challenging because the economy deteriorated for our customers". This led to a decline in volumes, while "at the same time transport capacities increased due to the easing of logistics chains". Jan van Tienhoven is pleased that a. hartrodt has "mastered" all obstacles.

Targets: Market expansion and volume growth

In 2024, the family business is preparing to tighten its belt. "We will have to make cost savings where we can't win additional customers," says Andreas Schroen. Despite the downturn in the freight forwarding industry, Jan van Tienhoven states the target of "further expanding our markets", including through acquisitions. In terms of volume growth, Andreas Schroen says the focus is "on customer acquisition based on our high service quality".

Good news for 2024

Although the general conditions are not optimal – a. hartrodt is starting 2024 with good news. "We are expanding and standardizing our range of services," announces Andreas Schroen. "We will continue to roll out our standardized transport management system internationally, which will enable us to develop even better logistics solutions." In areas where not all products are available yet, a. hartrodt will provide additional services. Jan van Tienhoven emphasizes the importance of new technologies to meet customer requirements in the future.

"We must all look with hope to the new year," says Jan van Tienhoven. Solutions are needed to tackle the social, economical and environmental challenges without losing sight of reality.