kerry

Ambitious Kerry Logistics has expanded again with the acquisition of Shipping and Airfreight Services (SAS) in Johannesburg.

SAS offers ocean, air, LCL, FCL, breakbulk and warehousing and, as part of Kerry’s Europe division, the 30-year-old company will boost the group’s forwarding activities in Africa, where it currently uses a network of agents.

While most of Kerry’s recent acquisitions have focused on China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, it has also grown in Europe, with buys in Spain, Germany and Italy, and has opened an office in Warsaw – part of its long-term international freight forwarding strategy.

And Kerry also hopes to tap into Chinese interest in Africa with this acquisition, it said.

“South Africa’s economy has an important standing on the continent, with excellent tradelanes, not only to the Chinese market but also the large exporting economies of the European Union,” said Thomas Blank, managing director of Europe.

“We are pleased about this great opportunity to further develop our business through this trade. We are glad to welcome the entire SAS team into the Kerry Logistics network. Their experience and local knowledge will strengthen our freight forwarding capabilities in Africa.”

It hopes to see growth in the automotive sector, noting that South Africa “is an important manufacturing hub for the global automotive market”.

“The automotive industry is responsible for a significant amount of South Africa’s imports and exports and will continue to make foreign trade a staple of the country’s economy,” Kerry said in a statement.

For more on Kerry Logistics and China, take a look at our recent LongRead.

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