Growth in International Freight Forwarding and Shipping
The Forwarding and Shipping division performed consistently well despite a turbulent global market. With comparable revenue to 2021, an increased margin was achieved. The highly successful and continuously growing forwarding activities in India and Poland had an important contribution to the result. Declining global trade volumes and container freight rates are likely to impact the results in this division in 2023.
Warehousing back on track
In the Warehousing and Distribution division, the effects of the initiated turnaround were clearly visible. Despite the sale of the VLS activities in Antwerp, turnover increased to EUR 77.4 million last year. Operations in Rotterdam are concentrated on the Maasvlakte, for clients in the chemical segment. Through winning new large customers with long-term contracts, the utilization of the warehouses increased significantly and a positive result contribution is secured for the upcoming years. In Weert, Broekman Logistics started final assembly and manufacturing work for the machinery market at the state-of-the-art 60,000 m2 site, officially opened March this year.
Breakbulk Terminals remain stable
The unique multipurpose terminals in Rotterdam again realized growth in turnover and results. The division mainly serves a number of long-term customers in the industrial and renewable energy sectors. A result improvement of 10 % was achieved. Moreover, major achievements in sustainability were realised, with investments in electrification of harbour cranes and instalment of solar panels at the roof of the all-weather terminal; these are important steps towards our carbon neutral operations, which we strive to offer within 10 years.
Turnaround pays off
“We have persistently executed the turnaround plan, which we initiated in 2021. I am proud that this is clearly visible in the 2022 results”, says Rik Pek, CEO of Broekman Logistics. “While keeping the focus on what we have been doing for 60 years; with personal attention for our customers and operational excellence in everything we do.”
“The significant improvement of our balance sheet ratios makes us strong and brings us in an excellent position in our chemical, machinery and industrial markets to meet the existing challenges in the macroeconomic developments”, according to Nicolas Parey, CFO of Broekman Logistics: “Above all, we are very satisfied that we realized a serious improvement of the operational performance of the company, which continues in 2023.”
