Schenker restructures management board

The third-party logistics provider subsidiary of German railway company Deutsche Bahn will combine its air and ocean freight division with its land transport division, as well as create a new division called Commercial DB Schenker and Contract Logistics.    Schenker AG is restructuring its management board, effective Jan. 1 2017, in an effort to “streamline processes and to be closer to the customers,” the company said in a statement.
   The third-party logistics provider subsidiary of German railway company Deutsche Bahn will combine its air and ocean freight division with its land transport division, as well as create a new division called Commercial DB Schenker and Contract Logistics.
   The consolidated air, ocean and land transport division, which will simply be called “Freight,” will be headed by Ewald Kaiser, a current member of the Management Board for Land Transport. The goal of the restructuring is to “tie these three product areas closer together to quickly improve integrated transport products and services and make better use of growth potential,” Schenker said.
   The company will also create a new organizational unit within the freight board division called Global Land Transport, which will be responsible for standardizing and promoting the development of Schenker’s land transport products outside Europe.
   In addition to these changes, which have already been approved by the company’s supervisory board, Schenker has appointed Reiner Heiken to the role of CEO of its Europe region. Heiken, who most recently served as chairman of the management board at Kühne + Nagel in Hamburg, succeeds Ewald Kaiser in this position.
   “By reducing the number of members on the management board from seven to six and reorganizing the board divisions, we intend to satisfy market requirements for fast and consistent solutions for our customers and to serve as a role model for creating more efficient structures,” Schenker AG CEO Jochen Thewes said of the move.