Europa Road has further strengthened its French operation having forged a new partnership with independent French distribution and groupage company DGS Transports.
Headquartered at its 6,000m2 hub in Limeil-Brevannes in Paris, DGS was established in 1983 as a domestic distribution network throughout France, servicing through its 70-member TSE network. Today the business is a truly international player working with independent transport companies across Europe.
Europa Worldwide Group Operations Director, Dan Cook, said the new relationship is a considered and strategic move for Europa to further enhance its French operation, which already this year includes a new route partnership with international logistics provider Ziegler in Rennes.
“Europa and DGS Transports are both members of the CargoLine Logistics Network so when looking to make a change to our operations in Paris, they stood out as the perfect choice. DGS Transports is a young minded, IT savvy, independent company which operates a very effective distribution network, which will make for a smooth transition when integrating with our activity, and give us a slick distribution product.
“Our ambition is to become the leader in road freight between the UK and France and we’re sure that our new partnership with DGS Transports will help us to achieve this goal and ensure we continue to provide first-rate customer service in France and beyond.
“France is often considered a complicated market, but with four daily injection points, and strong partners with well-structured IT and infrastructure, we are confident we can provide efficient and reliable solutions. Today France is our second largest groupage market behind Germany.”
As well as Europa Road’s routes into Paris, Colmar and Lyon, the division recently added a fourth line, between Dartford and Rennes, boosting its product range to and from its £30m 1hub facility, the UK’s largest European groupage hub, in Dartford.
Europa Road has invested heavily in its French operation over the last four years and saw its UK paid consignments to and from France grow by 17 per cent in 2017. Together with its partners across France, Europa Road now moves over 1,200 consignments and over one million Kgs between the UK and France each week.
Quentin Manceau, General Director of DGS Transports, added: “Our new partnership with Europa UK will allow our company to continue our development on the international road transport between France and UK with a daily shuttle, smart delivery times and a full track and trace system both ways. Europa is known as an independent leader for international groupage, and we look forward to a strong development, based on high level of quality and active sales.”
As well as its road freight services, Europa also provides dedicated air & sea, warehouse and showfreight services. The business’s turnover exceeded £144m at the end of 2017 and is on track to exceed £200m by the end of 2018. The business operates across 11 sites in the UK plus Hong Kong and Belgium and is represented in 100 countries.
