Ahlers History & Strategy

Presentation for Inspirational Week

Christian Leysen

Antwerp, June 1, 2015

Corporate info

100+ years of Ahlers History

1909
Shipping agency in the port of Antwerp

1960’s
Expansion into liner services and ship management

1970’s/1980’s
Expansion into international forwarding and warehousing

1990’s
Expansion and internationalisation of all 4 activities

2015
International Logistic and Maritime Service Provider
Ahlers’ entrepreneurial history (>100 years)

Environment Ahlers

Development Port of Antwerp. Agency set up in Antwerp

Emergence German shipping between UK agent & son of
lines. Managing Director Hansa,
Bremen.

Restart in 1921 as joint venture

(1926 partnership between
Two World Wars brothers).
Restart in 1950 with former
employee.

Containerisation implies Consolidation agency sector,

shrinking market for independent purchase Eiffe in Antwerp and De
shipping agencies. Baerdemaecker in Ghent.
Ahlers’ entrepreneurial history (ct’d)

Environment Ahlers

Ship building industry Ship management activity under

subventioned in Belgium Belgian flag is incentive for ship
requires Belgian flag. investment and liner services to
Baltic Sea.

Focus on niche markets in

Belgian ship yards close. maritime services, offshore crew
Ship building industry moves management, training & special
to Asia. projects.

Consolidation in short sea Start-up of agencies &

shipping in the Baltic. forwarding activities in CIS.
Ahlers’ entrepreneurial history (ct’d)

Environment Ahlers

Consolidation in shipping Leverage expertise as agents to

industry worldwide Asia.
(ex. Maersk takes over
P&O).

Develop door to door and cross

Consolidation in logistics
trades in emerging markets &
sector.
breakbulk.

Emerging markets become State of the art operations in

super powers. contract logistics (Ghent  St.
Economic center of the Petersburg).
world moves east.
Ahlers Maritime
European Distribution Center Ghent
Ahlers specialist in project & break-bulk cargo
worldwide

Powerplant
from China
to Minsk

Main filter units

from Shanghai to
Port Radicatel

Aircoolers
from Jabail to
Dovletabat/
Turkmenistan

Ahlers Ukraine
ships oil-
drilling rig to
UAE
Facts & figures

850 employees worldwide + 200 seagoing staff

Network own offices in Asia, CIS,

Western Europe and presence in Africa

Turnover EUR 150 + mio euro

Headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium

100+ years; privately owned

Mission Ahlers

Ahlers’ mission is to enhance customer productivity by

delivering superior transport and distribution services as
well as professional knowledge and resources to the
maritime community.

Ahlers serves industries and official authorities with

indepth industry knowledge and a constant search
for innovation to create long term value for all business
partners and motivated and happy employees.
Ahlers’ end-to-end supply chain solutions

SPECIALIZED COMPETENCE CENTERS ALONG THE ENTIRE SUPPLY CHAIN

Industry specialization

Growth based on long term customer relations where we

leverage specific expertise, extend scope of services and
differentiate by international teamwork and local presence.
Change of paradigm
for tomorrow’s supply chain service providers

Past axiom :
Sell more, bill more

Today axiom :

To achieve a long-term profitable relationship with our key

customers, you must make consistent, measurable contributions
to their profitability and their customer relationships.
We go for new operating models

Traditional international forwarding becomes ‘commodity’ dominated

by shipping lines and express courier services.

Shipping lines will operate as airlines

• First, Business & Economy class
• Cheap tickets without refund (pay used and not used)
• Agents replaced by automatic print-out stations document
Ahlers vision on Logistics

Process optimization
Lean Methodology - Value Stream Mapping
Control Tower Concept
ICT core in supply chain (incl. web ordering, scanning etc.)
Increased security & safety needs
Strengthening legislation & governance
Increased requirement on quality & green standards
Demand for concrete action evidencing commitment
Horizontal collaboration between our customers (who are active in same
industry and thus competitors)
Increased automation
(driven by cost as well as by space and labor restrictions)

New relationships between customers &

‘Supply Chain Service Providers’
Lean Methodology (Makigami)
Business Case - Logistic Control Tower

• Tender done by Ahlers

• Co-negotiation with selected suppliers
• Commercial model : base transport freight + fee based on KPI
performance
• Value added services : value stream mapping, transport optimization
• Operational support : transport docs, consolidated invoicing, weekly
transport planning
Business Case – Advanced WMS

ICT development team in Russia

 Warehouse Management System (WMS)
 Full RF (barcode)
 EDI connectable & integration
 ABC based location allocation
 And it can do much more than that…

Purchased by multinational company for their

own warehouses and successfully implemented
by Ahlers
 Support by Ahlers (24/7)

Next step: WMS for E-commerce

Business case - Lean supply chain
Business Case : Tracing high value goods
alarm signal to disconnect
 Ahlers own development sensor
power
 Universal sensor
 Compact GPS
receiver
 Easy to install
 Multi functional

connection
for charge

charge
panic button

sensor
Business Case:
Collaborative Control Tower Solutions
2020 Challenges & Opportunities ?

• E-commerce (impact on logistics)

• E-platforms for logistic services (the salesforce.com/LinkedIn
of the industry)
• E-learning (external, internal)
• ‘Green’ (impact on costs and society)
• Intelligent Mobility (traffic monitoring, gps driven cars and
chained trucks)
• New world of work (flexible workplace, impact of cloud
services)
Ahlers 4.0

100 years history of Ahlers

Ahlers 1.0: a shipping agency

Ahlers 2.0: ship manager and operator (1960-1990)
Ahlers 3.0: warehousing and international forwarding with international presence (1990-today)

Ahlers 4.0 means we will transform ourselves again (& everywhere) as a

lean and flexible company in clearly defined niche markets.

We will differentiate ourselves from the competition by offering our

customers solutions that are creative, tailor made and unique.

We shift from pioneering in new markets to pioneering in new product

and service combinations.
Ahlers 4.0

Sales
Accountability
Innovation
Lean

Sail to Ahlers 4.0 future

Access to X-cellent Expertise

Logistic & Maritime Services Applied ICT Automation Solutions

www.ahlers.com www.xylos.com www.egemin.com

850 staff members 160 staff members 600 staff members

(Belgium, the Netherlands, CIS, Asia) (Belgium, Russia) (Western Europe, China, USA)

Joint shareholders
(Anacom/AXE Investments – Sofinim/Ackermans & van Haaren)