Hellmann Logistics develops facility for Techtronic Industries at Auckland Airport

Germany-based third-party logistics company Hellmann Worldwide Logistics earlier this month announced a new warehouse lease and development investment at New Zealand’s Auckland Airport (AKL) on behalf of its manufacturer customer Techtronic Industries. The expansion is part of a pre-pandemic strategy to grow its contract logistics market share in the 25 countries it currently covers, which include Australia and New Zealand. [caption id="attachment_96079" align="alignright" width="450"] Hellmann Logistics' warehousing complex at Auckland Airport. (Photo/Hellmann Logistics)[/caption] Hong Kong-based power tools manufacturer Techtronic has been a Hellmann customer since 2013, Mark Fitzpatrick, Hellmann’s MESA director for contract logistics, told Air Cargo World . The new 19,200-square-meter on-airport facility is designed for Techtronic to grow into, Fitzpatrick said, with the manufacturer initially utilizing half of the facility while Hellmann offsets the additional space with leases to other customers. Hellmann also foresees the need for additional space in the area shortly. “As we work with Techtronic to utilize their 50% of the warehouse they’re not going to be using initially, as they move into [the remainder], we’re not going to be kicking customers out,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re going to need to relocate them to another new location.” Securing additional contract logistics space in Hellmann’s target expansion markets will present its own challenges, Fitzpatrick said. Warehouse space is available in many markets, including Singapore and Australia, but may not fit the needs of its contract logistics customers. In Singapore, where Fitzpatrick is based, “smaller warehouses with low ceilings are very much available but currently we’re looking for a longer-term postponement solution of 20,000 square meters, and it’s very difficult to find facilities like that in Singapore. When we go to places like Australia, there’s a constant build-up of new facilities being made, but again, it’s sometimes [difficult] finding the one that’s fit for purpose.” Freight forwarders, including Crane Worldwide and SEKO Logistics, have reported growing demand for warehousing space in North America and Asian markets due to the pandemic, but Volker Sauerborn, global COO of contract logistics at Hellmann, told Air Cargo World that the company’s focus on contract logistics emerged prior to 2020, as part of a new strategy under its new leadership team, which took the helm in 2015. “We want to grow contract logistics globally, but preeminently in the countries where we are already present — in other words, we are offering contract logistics [services] in 25 countries, but for the time being, we are not looking to go into countries 26 or 27,” Sauerborn said. Hellmann’s home market is Europe, where its contract logistics business is well-established, but Sauerborn said the Asia-Pacific and Oceania regions, as well as the United States, are expansion targets. “We are operating around 100 warehouses right now, and between the end of last year and the middle of next year — so in a timeframe of 18 months — we are going to go live with about 10 new warehouses around the world, which is equivalent to about 200,000 square meters,” with new additions in the U.S., Germany and Australia, Sauerborn said.

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