Strong earnings improvement for Neele-Vat

The new integrated approach earned Rotterdam logistics service provider Neele-Vat a strong improvement in profits last year.

Operating profit rose at the company from 2.3 million euros to 6.4 million euros on sales of 209 million euros (+2.7 million euros). Net profit simultaneously tripled from 1.5 million euros to 4.7 million euros. 'With this we are back towards the record level of 2014 when we closed the year with a final result of six million euros,' states managing director Cuno Vat in an explanation of the annual figures.

Transition Year

Fiscal 2015 was a transition year for the company, he states. The merger of the Neele and Vat family companies required the full attention of management at the time, he explains. At the same time, it was also a year where switches were made toward a more integrated approach to the logistics activities of the operating companies transportation, ocean freight, warehousing and customs forwarding. 'In doing so, we have been increasingly successful in filling the shelves in the warehouses, and contract logistics is increasingly serving as a driver of sales at the other business units,' Vat says. For example, the ocean freight division, among others, benefited from the new strategy and saw sales rise by six million euros to 65 million euros, while contract logistics sales increased by 25% to almost 19 million euros. Road transport remained the largest activity within Neele-Vat at 115.8 million euros.

Barrel: "We want to be more for a customer than sec a logistics service provider. It's about finding more solutions for parties. For example, for a relation in the US we now do the entire logistics in the EU via an app. The cargo arrives in Rotterdam and we take care of the rest'.

For another customer, for whom Neele-Vat used to do only land transport, in addition to container trucking, gas metering and inland waterway transport are now arranged fully automatically. 'The big advantage is also that a customer only needs one contact person and everything is handled in a control tower environment,' said Cuno Vat.

Strategic Growth and Network Optimization

Neele-Vat further adjusted its network last year, concentrating cross-dock operations in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, while closing its Duiven facility. That intervention yielded more thick cargo flows and an improvement in the profitability of the road transport operations, he says. There was also a new IT package, which benefited customs forwarding, among others. Neele-Vat also bought last year the company First Safety including parent holding company HR Investering BV, which operates gas measurement stations in North Holland and Limburg. 'In that market, with our existing station in Rotterdam, we have thereby significantly strengthened our market position in the Netherlands,' said Vat.

The Rotterdam-based family business now has more than 550 employees, a plus of fifteen, and expects to grow further. For example, there are advanced plans to build a new filling station on the Maasvlakte with a 20,000-square-meter warehouse. 'This involves an investment of twenty million euros,' said Vat. The planning phase should be completed in the fourth quarter of this year, and for completion of the building he is aiming for the end of 2018. In addition, Vat is also looking at new acquisitions without specifying in which sectors. 'You should rather see it broadly. If there are companies that add something or are complementary to our existing logistics activities, we are interested. He is thinking mainly of acquisitions of "small family businesses that have no successors.

Text: News Sheet Transport