Senator International Freight Forwarding Group (Senator) announces an agreement for A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk) to acquire Senator.
Established in Hamburg in 1984, Senator is recognized in the industry as a reputable partner both by customers and carriers. Besides a solid network of own controlled flights, it operates vessels, intercontinental rail and warehousing. Senator provides its customers with distribution and packaging services across Europe, the Americas, Asia and South Africa through its 64 offices and +1,700 employees.
Tim-Oliver Kirschbaum, CEO and Shareholder of Senator says: “Founded by my father Uwe Kirschbaum in 1984, Senator has grown to a well-renowned global freight forwarder. Our employees have always delivered first-class services to our valued customers. Senator’s own controlled air product started in 2016 and has proven to be a success story. Our customers honor our reliability - particularly in challenging times during the pandemic. By joining Maersk, we strongly believe that we will be able to deliver an even broader portfolio with own controlled air capacity as well as also in other modes of transportation. Senator’s customers and team will love it.”
This intended transaction represents another significant step in Maersk’s strengthening of its integrated logistics value proposition. Maersk’s intention is to offer an integrated network to further enhance opportunities for customers, and the already existing solid air freight products of Maersk and Senator will complement each other to the benefit of both company’s customers. Increased capacity in transportation by Air, Ocean, Rail and Trucking will enhance the capabilities of this cooperation.
Maersk Ocean & Logistics CEO Vincent Clerc says: “Air freight is a crucial enabler of flexibility in our customers’ supply chains. Therefore, as a natural next step in expanding our integrated logistics offering, we are ramping up our service within air freight. Senator is a strong strategic fit to our existing air offering, adding the key capabilities, network and scale needed to provide our customers the opportunity to realize the upside of a fully integrated supply chain across ocean, air, rail and landside.”
Maersk’s aim is to increase its presence in the air freight industry, combining its air freight services with Senator’s very complimentary offering will benefit customers through extended global routes and capacity. Maersk’s ambition is to have approximately one third of its air capacity as own controlled. This will be achieved by building and operating a global cargo flight network, combining owned capacity and through collaboration with partners on chartered capacity, which replicates the structure that the company has within its ocean fleet. The remaining part will be a mix of commercial and chartered flights.
For many customers operating in technology, FMCG (Fast-Moving-Consumer-Goods), lifestyle, pharmaceuticals, and the automotive industry, air freight solutions are a critical component of their supply chain. These industries have high demand for speed and delivery reliability, and high value cargo. Servicing a high demand for speed and delivery reliability is the core of Senator’s business. Events like the pandemic and Suez vessel blockage have demonstrated that integrated logistics, including air freight solutions, provides critical flexibility to manage supply chain disruptions.
Aymeric Chandavoine, Global Head of Logistics and Services in Maersk, says: “With Senator we partner with a company grounded in strong collaboration with suppliers and highly capable employees that through capabilities, systems and improved global presence will enable us to expand our offering and connect additional global gateways into our combined network and improve the value proposition for customers.”
The transaction is subject to closing conditions including regulatory approvals and is expected to close in H1 2022.
