New Southeast Asia Managing Director at a. hartrodt

From October 1, 2021, Kristian Sabitzki will be responsible for the Southeast Asia region at a. hartrodt as Regional Managing Director. This position was held for 13 years by Thorsten Drunagel – in a dual role, since he moved to Hamburg in 2019 as Managing Director for sea freight and land transport. Sabitzki has been working in Southeast Asia for almost eleven years, most recently six years as Managing Director at a. hartrodt Indonesia in Jakarta. There, the 39-year-old will also start as regional director: "I can easily take over the position from Indonesia before moving to Malaysia in a few months."

Also focusing on smaller countries

From the regional headquarters in Shah Alam near Kuala Lumpur, Sabitzki also wants to "focus on the smaller countries in the future and grow organically with new customers." In the strategically important region of Southeast Asia, a. hartrodt employs more than 400 people in more than 20 offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. "Despite the pandemic, everything is running stably. We are well prepared after a year and a half with Covid," he says.

Optimizing relationships with carriers

In the current tense situation regarding global container transport, Sabitzki wants to improve relations with carriers and thus the situation for sea freight customers in the medium term. "Together with colleagues in China, we have launched a project to optimize our purchasing prices with the carriers," reports the business graduate. His objective is to secure more shipping space and better freight rates for customers in the future, he says. Southeast Asia is an important region for sea and air freight customers because it has transhipment ports in Singapore and Port Klang (Malaysia) as well as air freight hubs in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Sabitzki sees "great potential " in intra-Asian shipments.

Sabitzki can't wait to travel the region after Covid restrictions will be lifted. "Trust is more likely to be built with customers, employees and partners through face-to-face meetings than via video conferencing," he says. His successor as Managing Director Indonesia will be introduced in the coming weeks.