The Nichirei Logistics Group's European operations began with two main businesses.

One is the "storage business," in which we store frozen and refrigerated cargo from our customers in our warehouses.
The other is the "forwarding business" that handled everything from customs clearance to land transportation to delivery destinations.

Subsequently, we have integrated several of logistics companies specializing in retail store logistic services and value adding process service. We have focused on providing added value from the customer's perspective.

As a result, we have developed one-stop logistics services in Europe, from ocean transport to customs clearance, veterinary check, storage, and cross border land transport to whole Europe. At the time, this pan European one-stop service was very rare, as major logistics companies focused on serving their home markets.

Today, under the intermediate holding company, Nichirei Holding Holland B.V., we operate extensively across Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, and France.

We will now take a brief peek into the actual logistics services provided by the companies that are responsible for the business.

At the Port of Rotterdam, fruit juice, the raw material for various drinks, is imported to Europe from countries around the world, including Central and South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
In 1990, Hiwa Rotterdam Port Cold Stores B.V., which specializes in logistics services for imported fruit juice, joined the Nichirei Logistics Group.

Natural fruit juices all vary in color, sugar content, acidity, and other tastes from lot to lot at the time of harvest. However, the juice delivered as a product must be of consistent quality.

Therefore, as part of its logistics service, Hiwa Rotterdam Port Cold Stores B.V. analyzes the composition of the fruit juice, communicates the data to the cosigning customer, and blends different lots to achieve a certain quality for shipment under the customer's instructions.

Hiwa Rotterdam Port Cold Stores B.V. has been highly evaluated for providing such customer-oriented services, and currently handles about a quarter of the imported fruit juice consumed in Europe.

Thermotraffic B.V. (Netherlands), Thermotraffic Ltd. (UK), and Thermotraffic GmbH (Germany) operate in the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, and Belgium, respectively, and are primarily engaged in forwarding and storage businesses to meet the logistics needs of each country.

Some of them focus not only on customs clearance, storage and cross-border transportation, but also on providing value-added services.

To begin with, the storage business is based on returning cargo to the shipper in the condition in which it was received. In the case of frozen warehouses, it is common to receive cargo in a frozen state, store it as it is, and ship it in a frozen state.

Thermotraffic B.V. (Netherlands) and Thermotraffic Ltd. (U.K.) offer unique value-added services, such as shock freezing and thawing of foodstuffs in their own warehouses, to gain an edge over competitors.

For example, in the case of meat, products that arrive in chilled form are flash-frozen and stored in our own warehouses.
When it is time to ship, the products are semi-thawed and shipped.

By providing such additional services as shock freezing and thawing, we can eliminate the work processes of freezing and thawing on the customer's side. In addition, customers can receive and ship products at the timing they need them, which maintains a balance between supply and demand and makes it easier for customers to control their inventories.

On the other hand, Thermotraffic GmbH (Germany), in addition to customs clearance of import/export cargo, is engaged in cross-border transportation throughout the EU and Northern Europe as its core business, expanding its delivery network to Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, where consumption is expanding, in addition to Western Europe. Another feature of our business is that we also handle pharmaceuticals and other products that require strict temperature control.

Frigo Logistics Sp. z o.o. provides logistics services to retailers in Poland.

In addition to "storage-based logistics," in which goods are stored in a warehouse for a certain period of time and shipped when necessary, the company also offers "cross-docking logistics," in which goods are temporarily consolidated and sorted for delivery without long-term storage.

In response to the needs of retailers, we sort stored frozen products and temporarily received products by store and deliver them to each store.

By storing goods in warehouses that provide both storage-based and cross-docking logistics at the same time, manufacturers supplying goods to retailers can reduce the time and cost of transportation arrangements.

Transports Godfroy S.A.S. and Entrepôts Godfroy S.A.S., which mainly handle processed foods and its' raw materials for manufacturers, wholesalers, and mass merchandisers, are responsible for the logistics network in France.

Transports Godfroy S.A.S functions as an actual carrier, and Entrepôts Godfroy S.A.S operates as a warehousing facility.

The strength of the two companies lies in their logistics services for the HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant, and Café) market. In addition to the three northern sites, a logistics center in the southern city of Lyon became operational in 2014. In response to growing demand, the company expanded a logistics center in Lyon in 2021 and another in Le Havre in the north in 2022. By establishing bases in the north and south, we are now able to provide one-stop services for storage and transportation throughout France.

In this way, the Nichirei Logistics Group has expanded its business by taking advantage of the strengths of each company and expanding its logistics network across multiple areas.


Behind the scenes, there are local staff who work hard every day to provide stable and continuous high-quality logistics services, and expatriate staff who support logistics in foreign lands.

In Part 3, "The Work of the Overseas Expatriates Supporting the European Business (tentative title)" (to be released in January), we will introduce the role of the Nichirei Logistics Group's overseas expatriates in the European business.