Damco has opened a new office in Le Havre port in France, a development that gives it a good chance of competing against other freight forwarding companies in the area. The new office in Le Havre port is Damco’s third office in France aside from its main branch in Lezennes and Dunkerk. It started to operate 4 October and got off to a good start as it handled its first business on 15 November.

Branch Manager Laurent Clement says they may be small for now, but their responsibilities are crucial to the operations of Damco France. Le Havre port is the first and the biggest container port in France which accommodates 60% of traffic in containers and 40% of oil that enter the country.

With the new office in Le Havre port, Damco can now serve its customers better.

“Le Havre port is a very strategic place and it is very important for us to have this office, which is also near the offices of customs administration, shipping lines and other forwarding agents. With this new office, we can now better compete with other freight forwarders and offer our customers a complete end-to-end solution,” says Laurent, who has a strong background in the forwarding operations in Le Havre port after working for nine years with one of Damco’s main competitors.

Damco is currently going through a well controlled growth of over 50%. Opening Le Havre branch is the first step of a 2012 strategy that will allow Damco to be physically present in the main ports and airports in France. Consequently, Damco is preparing another branch opening already in 2011.