Logistics

As of yesterday, Dutch fulfillment company Active Ants has been fully acquired by Belgian postal company Bpost. The acquisition was already announced in 2018, but at that time management remained in the hands of Active Ants. Now, the company has sold its remaining stake to Bpost.

TikTok started providing logistics services to sellers in the United Kingdom. The company is introducing a program called 'Fulfilled by TikTok', or FBT for short. Interested sellers will hand over a volume of their stock.

Amazon is pulling the plug on its specialized fulfillment program for small, lightweight, and low-priced goods in Europe, after the discontinuation in the US. Starting from September 26, these items will automatically be subject to new 'low-price FBA rates’.

Ecommerce giant Amazon has opened its first fulfillment center in the Netherlands. With the new location, the online marketplace will be able to deliver Dutch orders faster. The launch is part of a collaboration with Dutch logistics company Bleckmann.

DHL Group has signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of MNG Kargo, one of the leading parcel service providers in Turkey. According to DHL, the acquisition secures a leading position in the domestic parcel market. “MNG Kargo complements our business portfolio and will help to strengthen our position in this sector”, CEO Tobias Meyer says.

LiBiao Robotics has opened a European headquarters in Frankfurt to bolster its growth ambitions on our continent. The new location offers a showroom and areas for demonstrations of the autonomous sorting robots.

From 1 August, Hermes Fulfilment will take over a dispatch center in Valdengo, Northern Italy. The center specialises in the logistical processing of low-volume product ranges. ‘By taking over the site in Valdengo, we can establish ourselves on the European market’, says CEO Kevin Kufs.

Swedish Logent Group has signed an agreement for a majority stake in Misi. The acquisition of this Dutch fulfilment company is expected to be completed next month. It is unknown how much money Logent paid for the majority stake.

Ocado has returned to profitability on a group level. The British online supermarket and solutions provider reported a gross profit (EBITDA) of 16.6 million pounds for the first half of this year. According to CEO Tim Steiner, Ocado demonstrates 'the potential for our international ambitions'.

Amazon wants to open a distribution centre in the Netherlands of 100,000 square metres. The ecommerce giant has been operating there since 2015 and has a Dutch online store since 2020. Currently, it delivers most orders from a delivery centre at Schiphol Airport, while its products come from Germany.

Today, Sendcloud announced the acquisition of data platform Tracey. The acquisition allows Sendcloud to offer new data tools, such as AI-driven delivery predictions and near-real-time package monitoring. In this way, the shipping platform aims to offer the best customer experience.

Over the next three years, ecommerce giant Amazon will hire more than 5,000 refugees in Europe. It pledged to do that, together with over 40 companies. Together, they will hire, train or connect to work a total of 250,000 refugees. At least 13,680 of them will get jobs directly in the 40 companies.

The courier, express, and parcel sector in Germany, known as KEP for short, faced turbulent times in 2022. There were 360 million fewer packages delivered than in the peak year of 2021. This translates to a 7.9 percent decline in package volume in Germany.

Global fulfillment platform ShipBob is expanding to the Netherlands with the launch of a fulfillment center. The new fulfillment center is the company’s fifth European location. The company expects to start shipping parcels from the new location in July.

German fulfillment company for DTC ecommerce brands, Alaiko, is launching in the United Kingdom. With its solution, the company wants to help British brands scale domestically and across Europe. In order to do so, they are partnering with a local state-of-the-art fulfillment center.