THE EUROPEAN FOCUSSED FREIGHT FORwARDERS - EVO

The European
Focussed
COMPANY Name:
Freight
Feature headline
Forwarders
www.klgeurope.com

THE EUROPEAN
FOCUSSED FREIGHT
FORWARDERS
KLG offers services ranging from road, air and ocean
freight to warehousing and more
Written by Darrel Moore & Produced by Ollie Moy
August 2010 | www.businessrevieweurope.eu

KLG EUROPE 139
KLG is an
integrated
logistics
provider
KLG Europe is an international operating
company with key locations in Western and
Eastern Europe. It is an integrated logistics
provider that offers a large range of services, from
road, air and ocean freight to warehousing and
value-added services, with focus on solutions for
the markets in the Western Europe and CEE.
The company is focused on planning,
organisation, management, control and execution
of operations in the supply chain, from road, air
and sea/ocean freight transport or warehousing to
contract logistics.
With the increasing sophistication of transport
and logistics, KLG has evolved over the years, making
sure that all parts of its well oiled machine work in
perfect union. Transporters, warehouses, container
handlers, value added services providers are all parts
of the total supply chain management of the company
– aiming to ensure that all businesses they work with
reach the highest performance possible.
HOW KLG BEGAN
Kees Kuijken, KLG Europe’s Managing Director,
says: “KLG was formed by my grandfather in 1918.
In World War II, all the trucks we had at the time
were confiscated by the Germans, so we had to
start over. In 1964, my grandfather’s business was
split into three and my father and two of my uncles
each took a part of the business. In 1998, my
brother and I took over the shares from my father
and in 1992 we bought the company off one of my
uncles. From the mid-90s our growth has been
quite substantial. We grew at least double digits
year on year, apart from 2009 where we had a drop
in growth.
“The main business is European distribution
and part loads. We have extended services from
Holland, the UK and Romania into Europe. Apart
from that, we have over 120,000 square meters of
warehousing in Holland and Romania. Air freight
and sea freight, are also substantial businesses in
our group.”
EUROPEAN FOCUS
The aim of KLG is to ensure its customers receive
the highest care by focusing on the largely
www.businessrevieweurope.eu | August 2010

Minihouse
The customs company
Support of all customs processes
myUnidoc.eu
One application
for all customs
declarations
Software as a Service
Open standards for interfacing
24/7 support
Customs consultancy
Email: info@minihouse.eu
Internet: www.minihouse.eu
Phone: +31 (0)513 645 112
www.minihouse.eu
49510185_adv188x130.indd 1 20-7-10 13:58
August 2010 | www.businessrevieweurope.eu

KLG EUROPE 141
MINIHOUSE
On 14th June 2010, Kewill plc,
a leading provider of software
solutions that simplify global
trade and logistics, announced the
acquisition of Minihouse, a software
group that helps businesses automate
customs compliance. The acquisition
strengthens Kewill’s European
customs proposition with best of
breed customs software coverage.
With the upcoming rollout of new
customs legislation, including
EMCS and ICS in Europe, Kewill
is now even better positioned to
serve the needs of customers. Kewill
furthermore supplies standard
software solutions for Freight
Forwarding, Transportation and
Warehousing, Trade Compliance and
Business Integration.
www.kewill.com
SILK ROUTE SHIPPING
Founded in 2007, SILK ROUTE
SHIPPING company (SRS)
is specialized in multimodal
containerized cargo transportation,
as exclusive liner agents in Romania
for Taiwanese Owners WAN HAI
LINES LTD. Although a young
company, SRS became a recognized
brand on the Romanian market.
SRS Headquarters are established
in Constanta South Agigea, with a
branch sales office in Bucharest.
SRS has concentrated its activity in
container transportation (import and
export); project cargo management;
land and rail transport (multimodal
transport/door to door); ship services
activity; shipping consultancy.
As agents of Wan Hai Lines, SRS
can offer direct service from Far
East ports to Constanta.
crina.slavu@srs.com.ro
Kees Kuijken, KLG Europe’s Managing Director
European territory. This, the company believes,
gives it an edge with partners in Asia. “Through our
network, we have very good access to Asia,” says
Kuijken. “We feel the difference between KLG and
a lot of our colleagues and competitors is the fact
that most of our colleagues are active in air and
sea freight, whereas we are focused on European
distribution, so that, in our view, is definitely a bonus
to our partners in Asia.”
KLG saw a drop in business over the
economic crisis as the need for freight
forwarders dropped with the decline in business
orders. As a result 2009 saw a drop in the steady
growth they’d been experiencing since 1993. “In
1993, we had group turnover of about 4 million
euros and in 2008 it was 83 million euros,”
Kuijken says. “The manufacturers saw a drop
themselves due to the fact that all our clients had
fewer orders and shipments.
www.businessrevieweurope.eu | August 2010

“ We don’t see revenue
as our target; we see
profit as our target. At
the moment, we are
able to reduce costs for
our clients”
Kees Kuijken, Managing
Director of KLG Europe
New distribution centre
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KERKSTRAAT 4, 5427 BC BOEKEL
THE NETHERLANDS
T +31 (0)492 32 73 33
I WWW.VANBOXTEL.NL
“We are very active in the electronics, in
the chemical industry and in the fast moving
consumables, and all three of these businesses
have been affected quite badly by loss of sales. As
a consequence of that, we felt the same.
“We expect, at the end of this year, to be back
on the same level as we are in 2008 in terms of
revenue and number of shipments.”
EXPANSION
With over 600 employees, and many big contracts
currently underway, KLG is set to expand even
further. “We are working on one quite big project
in Holland for distribution all over Europe for
a big electronics producer. In Romania, we
just concluded a deal with Orange for their
distribution throughout Romania through our
distribution network,” Kuijken adds. “We are
extending our business into Eastern Europe; trying
to acquire a few companies in the Netherlands
and one in Romania with a view to extending our
August 2010 | www.businessrevieweurope.eu

KLG EUROPE 143
FACTS AT A GLANCE
business into Eastern Europe. Through our new
office in Turkey, we will also preserve the market in
the Middle East and former CIS Countries.”
With a rapidly expanding business, KLG is
aware of the customer care policies and employee
training that must be placed in order to build a
strong foundation on which they can build. “We can
have quite a flat organisation which also means that
people have to be able to take the responsibility,”
Kuijken explains. “In order to do that, they have to
be trained and want to be trained, so we do spend
quite a lot of money on training every year.
“We are a very active member of several
cooperations within Europe for Germany and
a big part of Europe, we are a shareholder of the
German 24 Plus system. We are also member and
shareholder of the co-operation Astre in France.
Worldwide, we are a member of the WCA.”
He concludes: “We don’t see revenue as our
target; we see profit as our target. At the moment,
we are able to reduce costs for our clients.”
KLG EUROPE: KLG Europe
MANAGING DIRECTOR: Kees Kuijken
OPERATIONS: Freight Forwarders
ESTABLISHED: 1918
EMPLOYEES: 600
REVENUE/TURNOVER: 67 million euros
www.klgeurope.com
www.businessrevieweurope.eu | August 2010

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5928 LC VENLO (NL)
T: +31 (0) 77 - 324 50 00 | F: +31 (0)77 - 324 50 01
www.klgeurope.com