Toll Global Forwarding confirms closure of four US offices, with redundancies

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Toll Global Forwarding has confirmed it is set to close a number of its locations in the US, resulting in redundancies, as it embarks on a global restructuring plan.

A company spokesperson told The Loadstar today: “Like any well-run business, Toll continues to review our operations to ensure we are set up in the right way to support our customers and simplify our operations.

“In the US we are introducing a simpler structure for our Global Forwarding business, which will include servicing our customers from six key offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Dallas.

“As a result of these changes, we are consulting with employees based at offices that will be closing, which includes Seattle, Philadelphia, Miami and Houston,” it said, adding that this would likely result in a number of redundancies.

“While it is still too early to understand how many employees will be impacted, we do expect some roles will be affected and we will fully support our employees throughout these changes. The US remains a key market for us and we will continue to invest in this business going forward.”

It said that although the axe is set to fall initially on those four secondary US locations, the review of its network was not limited to the US.

“Following a review of our Toll Global Forwarding business, we have identified opportunities to drive simpler, more customer focused operations.

“This includes consolidating some sites in some countries where it makes sense to do so, ensuring we are focused on strategic markets and simplifying our back-office structure.

“We are working closely with our employees and customers as we work through these proposed changes to ensure they are fully supported as we build a stronger and more sustainable freight forwarding business.”

More information on Toll’s restructuring is available on The Loadstar Premium here.

The plan appears to have come from owner Japan Post, which in its 2018 annual report notes that it aims “to boost performance at our subsidiary Toll Holdings by steadily implementing measures to improve management that includes structural reform”.

The company also announced that Matthias Heimbach has become executive vice president sales & marketing for its Global Forwarding division. He joins from Kuehne + Nagel, where he spent four years, most recently as senior vice president sales and marketing for western Europe. Prior to that he was at Ceva Logistics for eight years, following a stint at Panalpina.

“Matthias is a highly experienced veteran of the freight forwarding industry with 30 years of experience across sales and marketing, product development and running business units with full profit and loss accountability,” said Thomas Knudsen, Toll president Global Forwarding.

“Matthias has worked for a number of leading freight forwarding organisations across Singapore, Hong Kong and several European countries.”

Mr Heimbach started at Toll on 1 March and is based in Singapore.