Following a successful test phase in Germany, the structural realignment will apply to the entire European network from January 8, 2024. The efficiency-enhancing Groupage Network 2.0 solution will enable Rhenus to offer its customers significantly shorter delivery times and higher departure frequencies thanks to daily connections and departures throughout Europe.

Time-critical supply chains

As supply chains around the world are becoming increasingly time-critical, it is crucial for most companies to get their goods from A to B as quickly as possible. This is why the European Rhenus national companies have developed the new Groupage Network 2.0 road freight service. The aim is to offer companies daily pick-ups and departures throughout Europe, regardless of their location.

Until now, Rhenus has only offered such daily groupage services in highly industrialized regions with a high potential for closely timed departures. The international logistics service provider previously only carried out consignment departures twice a week in less industrialized regions. Rhenus is now handling daily departures from any region in Europe to any destination on the continent using the new cross-border transport structure - regardless of the customer's location.

Hub structure

The new Rhenus groupage network is designed for maximum efficiency in order to deliver consignments to and from all over Europe quickly and reliably. A hub structure involving various countries ensures that imports and exports can be handled on a daily basis. On the first mile, consignments first reach the country gateways in the respective countries, which act as the main regional transshipment points. From there, Rhenus transports the goods to the Central European hub, where they are consolidated according to their destination and sent to their final destination. "We selected Hilden in North Rhine-Westphalia as a strategically and geographically suitable center for the pan-European transshipment point as part of a center-of-gravity analysis. We can implement short routes and efficient main, pre-carriage and onward carriage here," says Carsten Hölzer, Managing Director at Rhenus Road Freight, explaining this development.

The higher frequency of groupage shipments ensures that there will no longer be any "white spots" on the European map where customers have to put up with long transit times. After a two-month test phase in Germany, during which minor inconsistencies in the process or necessary changes were rectified, the structural changeover to Groupage Network 2.0 is now in the starting blocks across Europe.

Over 150 locations

In practice, this means that Rhenus will be able to use its pan-European road freight network with more than 150 of its own and other partner sites to transport its customers' goods along trade routes throughout Europe much faster than before. The transit times for groupage freight will be reduced by an estimated 34 percent compared to 2023. Customers will also benefit from significantly greater transparency in the network and the same quality promise at every location.

An additional benefit of the daily shipment connections is the possibility of combining the transport solutions with local warehousing and handling options. Rhenus offers this service as "Transport-Related Warehousing" in all European countries. This provides customers with local storage capacities in the immediate vicinity of their supply chain. Both options together enable much more flexible logistics processing with efficient up and down scaling depending on customer requirements.