News / ECU eyes 'organic growth' to double its market share in Latin America

Cargo consolidation specialist and NVO ECU Worldwide is looking to cement its operations in Latin America, amid signs of roaring demand.

ECU, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mumbai-based Allcargo Logistics, has a multi-pronged strategy to double its market share in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

“Latin America offers significant opportunities,” said group chief strategy officer Ravi Jakhar. “We want to significantly strengthen our business presence across all countries, launch several new tradelanes and grow business in existing and new markets.”

While there are no immediate acquisition plans, Mr Jakhar told The Loadstar ECU would expand its network in the region organically, including Central America, over the next year.

“We want to grow twice as fast as the market in the next few years,” he said.

To spearhead this expansion, ECU has appointed Pedro Custodio, a 20-year veteran of the NVO logistics business, as cluster head for the Argentina region, as well as bringing in some 20 new executives at various levels.

ECU also plans to open more offices, particularly in Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil, he added.

Across the region, ECU claims to serve some 36 direct export tradelanes and 155 direct import routings, for a wide range of industry verticals, including automotive, electronics, mining, textiles, apparel, minerals, agriculture and livestock.

And ECU’s growth push is not limited to South America: the company recently gave itself a firmer footing in Nigeria – a market it described as virgin territory for outbound LCL services – through a strategic partnership with SIFAX Shipping, part of Lagos-based Sifas Group.

“Launch of the LCL [less-than-container-load] consolidation service will help ECU serve unmet demand for the cost-effective transport and export of low-value products and commodities in the region,” it said.

The move complements ECU’s inbound LCL service into Nigeria, generally using MSC, ONE, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM network connections.

ECU currently has a network of about 300 offices across 180 countries, providing 2,400 direct trade services and door-to-door offerings in 56 global markets, and claims to command approximately 15% of the global LCL market.

ECU parent Allcargo, in its latest business analysis, reported steady growth in LCL volumes in June, up 4% year on year.