1. Event report
Meet the industry – The logistics sector
29 May 2012, at ING Gerard Mercator Auditorium in Antwerp
On May 29th Vlerick MFM Alumni organised for the third time a Meet the industry event. The
concept of this series of events allows professionals to benefit from industry insights offered by
analysts and industry experts. This edition covered the Logistics Sector. Around 70 participants were
welcomed in the exquisite setting of the ING Gerard Mercator Auditorium in Antwerp.
First, Professor Robert Boute, Associate Professor Operations Management at
Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School elaborated on the attractiveness of Flanders as a Logistic
Region and explained that sustainable logistics in Flanders should be more than simply “moving
boxes” based on 5 stories: how Barry Callebaut brought production and distribution close together,
how Volvo Logistics also handles logistics for other companies, how SKF Logistics Services
streamlined storage and distribution for Metso Minerals, how Katoen Natie went for zero-tolerance
policy against errors to enable e-logistics services and how UCB, Baxter, H.Essers and Tri-Vizor joined
forces to organise the logistics more advantageously with lower costs, higher critical mass, higher
delivery frequency, and a smaller impact on the environment.
Second, Didier Keters, senior relationship manager at ING for corporate clients shared his
observations as a banker on 3PL industry trends. A first trend is globalization, where logistic
companies follow their clients and cross-sell services like freight management or contract logistics.
They also try to replicate operational standards and transfer best practices globally. A second trend
is supply chain integration, where there is a consolidation with 3PLs, freight forwarders and
transporters moving on the chain and taking on more and more operations. Producers are also
including logistics in the strategic planning stages with an equal seat at the table with production
and sales. As a result logistics can help to solve the friction between manufacturing (yield on assets)
and sales (volume). Logistics companies aim to work around sectors enabling them to get industry
expertise and know their customer in order to create added value securing long term relationships.
Another trend is the ever growing importance of technology, with new ‘internet’ customers looking
for transparency, speed, reliability,… on one hand and IT on the other hand as a differentiator to
support client driven solutions. Sustainability gets more and more attention with global trade
impacting global warming, clients looking to decrease ecological footprint and companies investing
in green energy for own use and to increase profitability of real estate. On the Real Estate side,
location is still very important where the axis Brussels-Antwerp is a prime-location due to its central
location in Western Europe. Other important aspects for real estate are multi-modal access to the
real estate, free height to compensate the high price per m², storage/office space ratio of 95/5,
increased number of quays to increase speed and low energy consumption. On the financing side,
there is a trend to rent real estate or to hold real estate combined with long term funding. This
funding can be portfolio based solutions (bank debt, debt capital markets solutions or equity capital
markets) or asset based with lease financing.

2. Finally, Dirk Lannoo, Vice-President at Katoen Natie shared their strategy to all these trends.
Katoen Natie’s mission is to offer flexible, high-quality logistics solutions and continuous
improvement as a competitive advantage for each client. Katoen Natie’s core business is
warehousing and value added logistics through investing in large-scale multi-customer platforms
with a strong focus on state-of-the-art engineering and IT. In order to offer clients fast decision
making and sufficient commitment/dedication Katoen Natie chose for decentralisation and
delegation with a no-nonsense mentality and a can-do attitude. It therefore operates in several
business units, offering specific sector knowledge like petrochemicals, customer goods, food & feed,
specialty chemicals, industry & automotive, etc. Katoen Natie has a worldwide presence, but instead
of trying to be everywhere, Katoen Natie prefers to be in locations where they can make the
difference and be the local hero.
The topics discussed were ground for interesting and challenging questions by the audience which
continued during the excellent reception offered by ING."
By Isabelle Decroos (MCCF 2011)