Logistics News: CEVA Logistics rolls out new integrated business model 

Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 7/17/2008

HOOFDDORP, The Netherlands—Global third-party logistics (3PL) services provider CEVA Logistics unveiled a corporate restructuring earlier today in which four regional vice presidents will be charged with running the company’s integrated Contract Logistics and Freight Management businesses.

The four regional vice presidents are: Joe Bento, President Americas and Global FM network; Vittorio Favati, President, Asia-Pacific; Bruno Sidler, President, Northern Europe; and Gianfranco Sgro, President Southern Europe, Middle East & Africa.

CEVA CEO John Pattullo said in a statement that this effort will help CEVA bring business closer to customers, as well as help CEVA meet a growing need for integrated service offerings.

Formerly known as TNT Logistics and owned by TNT N.V., CEVA was established in December 2006, shortly after it was acquired by Apollo Management L.P., a private equity firm for $1.9 billion in November 2006. Last August, CEVA acquired EGL Global Logistics in a merger which brought together the companies contract logistics and global freight forwarding services. CEVA’s “closed network” contract services focus on transportation, warehousing services, and manufacturing, with dedicated equipment, facilities, and services tailored to specific customers’ needs.”

CEVA has three global sector teams, covering the automotive, technology, and consumer/retail industries. The automotive market represents roughly 35 percent of the company’s business. It also has an industrial product line, which is mainly comprised of large, manufacturing operations, and it also has customers in the tires and publishing sectors.

When EGL was merged into CEVA, the new entity kept the Contract Logistics and Freight Management businesses as separate divisions, noted CEVA. But the groups were integrated in the Asia-Pacific region during a nine-month pilot. The success of that pilot served as the impetus for adopting the international model on a global basis, and Pattullo said it “allows for one CEVA ‘face’ to the market, helps us stay very much attuned to customer expectations, and enables the provision of integrated solutions.”

In an interview with LM at the eyefortransport 3PL Summit in Atlanta last month, Pattullo said that one of CEVA’s biggest competitive advantages is how it approaches supply chain design.

“In a way, the more complex models that exist create more opportunities for us, because we can do the modeling and create the likely possibilities and options for our customers,” he said. “We are not a ‘one-trick pony’ in that sense. This more sophisticated supply chain trend is good news for companies with our sort of capabilities.”