Targeting Southeast Asia for Strategic Growth with KBC
With a history that goes back 115 years, Ahlers Logistics is an established name in the Antwerp logistics and maritime industry. The company is increasingly focusing on Southeast Asia as a growth market. KBC Commercial Banking plays a crucial role in the strategy of the specialist in project cargo and forwarding through its local presence. “Our presence in Southeast Asia is not focused on acquiring new customers, but on providing maximum local support to our Belgian companies.”
For Ahlers, the focus on the Asia Pacific region is a new chapter in the transformation from a classic maritime agency to a modern full-service logistics player. “For a long time, Ahlers was a conglomerate of country divisions,” says Roger Chantillon, CEO of Ahlers. “Today, we have organized ourselves into divisions around our service offering.” These services cover just about everything that goes into logistics, a legacy of the company’s long history. But Chantillon emphasizes two pillars. The first is project cargo. “We offer a total logistics service package for large, complex industrial projects,” he explains. “It’s about much more than just shipping containers. Our expertise in that specific niche is greater than that of most major players, and at the same time we are larger than local competitors. Our goal? To become a global leader in this niche.” The second pillar that Ahlers is building on is that of the classic ‘forwarding’ of goods, but with a clear choice for the sectors in which the company has experience. “That’s mainly everything to do with consumer goods,” Chantillon explains. “From that core expertise, we can then expand into related sectors.
"Our goal is to become a global leader in the niche of large, complex industrial projects."
Roger Chantillon, CEO at Ahlers
Reliable partner in complex regions
What connects both pillars is Ahlers' focus on what they themselves call 'difficult jurisdictions'. In other words: regions where, due to cultural and religious differences and specific administrative contexts, it is not self-evident for many customers to arrange their own transport. In addition to recruiting new customers in Southeast Asia, Ahlers focuses on completely unburdening its existing Western and international customers in the region. A good example of this is the American world leader in the production of heavy machinery, which counts on Ahlers for the logistical support between the entire network of production and distribution locations throughout the Asian continent. Ahlers already has extensive experience in logistics within many challenging regions, starting with the former Eastern Bloc countries and the '-stan countries' (refers to the suffix '-stan' in the English name of seven countries in Central and South Asia, ed.), and then to the Far East. For further expansion, Ahlers can count on its house banker KBC. “KBC Commercial Banking focuses on SMEs and family businesses,” explains Andrew Egan, General Manager KBC Asia Pacific Branches.
“We also serve a number of very large multinationals, but our focus is not on them. Our activities in Asia Pacific offer the same service as in Belgium, but adapted to the often more complex local context.” For Ahlers, this modus operandi is absolutely not a luxury. “The large multinationals can simply play on their scale when they start operating in a new country,” says Egan. “But a player like Ahlers finds it difficult to find the way to the major banks in the region for its financing needs, as they are generally used to much larger clients.”
"Ahlers has difficulty accessing local major banks for his financing needs. KBC offers the same service as in Belgium, adapted to the often more complex local context."
Andrew Egan, General Manager KBC Asia Pacific Branches
Local knowledge is key to success
Andrew Egan, who operates from Singapore, clearly emphasises his mission once again. “I am not there to acquire new, local clients for KBC Commercial Banking. I am there to be able to offer the service locally that clients like Ahlers are used to from us in Belgium.” This involves classic services: working capital support and general financing that the local major banks can never offer. In addition, Egan and his team also offer administrative support in countries where it has no physical presence, such as Vietnam. This may seem obvious, but Egan emphasises the complexity of Southeast Asia as an economic region. “Depending on how you define the region, the common denominator 'Southeast Asia' covers at least 38 countries, often with major differences between them.”
Roger Chantillon confirms: “What works in Vietnam, you can’t just copy to, say, Indonesia,” he says. “That’s also why we’re taking things one step at a time. We’re starting with Vietnam, where a lot of assembly is already taking place today of components that come from China and are shipped from there to Europe and the US.”
"KBC is closely involved in our activities in China, which is an added value in helping us understand the local regulations. It is particularly nice to have a partner in the region who knows and understands our needs, especially with the many local compliance requirements."
Nikolas Rosseel, CFO at Ahlers
A service that Ahlers greatly appreciates, CFO Nikolas Rosseel also confirms . “At KBC Commercial Banking, we found the service and assistance we needed to meet local compliance requirements. Not a given in countries like China and Vietnam, where we created a new local hub in Ho Chi Minh City this year. It is particularly nice to have someone at our side in the region who knows and understands our needs.”
Opportunities in the green supply chain
Needs that also increasingly revolve around sustainability. Ahlers feels that the demand comes mainly from the market itself. “Our customers are increasingly looking for solutions that go beyond purely logistical”, Chantillon nods. “We develop disruptive logistical solutions for our customers, whereby we reduce the CO2 footprint through digitalisation and optimisation of the chain . ” That sounds complex, but can also be surprisingly simple. Sometimes even simpler than expected: 'Instead of three truck routes, we now do two of them by train.”
Ahlers and KBC both see opportunities in a green supply chain. “There are a number of obvious things, such as coal, in which KBC will clearly no longer invest,” concludes Egan. “But we should not blindly walk away from sectors, just because they have a CO 2 footprint, such as logistics. There is no point in quitting 'cold turkey'. It is our job to guide them in the green transition, because there are many opportunities there.”