DACHSER & FERCAM Italia A new era dawns for logistics in Europe

It adds up to 314 long and arduous kilometers: from Modena, Italy, the A22 motorway climbs ever more steeply up to the Brenner Pass, which straddles the Austria-Italy border at an altitude of 1,370 meters. The truck is loaded with pallets of espresso machines—recognized as the epitome of Italy throughout Europe and beyond. For Bernardo, a driver from Verona, the route via the Brenner Pass is familiar ground and yet special every time: “The view of the snow-capped peaks, the wide, sweeping orchards, all those rushing streams—che bello!” Bernardo has to have a great deal of patience to navigate the regular traffic jams that occur on this, the busiest road link between Austria and Italy, especially during the vacation season. He takes it all in his stride: “An Alpine pass is and will always be a challenge of nature.”

Italy’s topography and geography make it both attractive and particularly challenging for logistics companies. The boot-shaped peninsula stretches almost 1,200 kilometers from the Alps in the north to the Ionian Sea in the south. Its coastline measures around 7,600 kilometers. With an area of 301,340 square kilometers and almost 59 million inhabitants, Italy is one of the largest countries in Europe. Over 70 percent of the population now lives in urban areas, especially in the  conurbations around Milan, Naples, Turin, and the capital Rome. One fact has long characterized Italy and still does to this day: in the southern regions of Italy from Abruzzo to Sicily, an area called the Mezzogiorno, the per capita economic output is only half as high as in the north. Manufacturing has a correspondingly smaller presence in the south.  

In this logistically challenging environment, DACHSER and Fercam, a long-established logistics company headquartered in Bolzano, have developed and continuously expanded an intensive partnership in groupage handling since 2003. Fercam knows the Italian market inside and out and has a nationwide network of branches. It has reliably distributed groupage shipments from DACHSER’s European network in Italy for over two decades. Conversely, Fercam fed Italian goods, such as the espresso machines in Bernardo’s truck, into DACHSER’s Europe-wide network—a solid, tried-and-tested team of network partners.

A milestone for DACHSER and Fercam

In March 2024, the partnership reached a new level with the launch of the joint venture DACHSER & FERCAM Italia S.r.l. Both companies had signed an agreement months earlier under which DACHSER acquired 80 percent of Fercam’s groupage and contract logistics divisions. “This step was a significant milestone for us,” explains DACHSER CEO Burkhard Eling. “With this acquisition, we were able to close the last gap and round off our own groupage and contract logistics network in the major continental European markets. We’re strengthening our network in Southern Europe and at the same time creating the conditions for further growth.”

Hannes Baumgartner, Managing Director of Fercam, believes the new arrangement offers great potential: “Continuing the groupage and contract logistics business under the umbrella of the DACHSER network is the right step to secure positive development and future growth in Italy and Europe.” The trustful cooperation that these two family-owned companies, Fercam and DACHSER, have enjoyed over the past decades underpins the fact that both plan for the long term and share the same values.

One thing that is constantly emphasized in these days of joint reorganization is how each side is familiar with and appreciates the other. “Mutual trust has grown over the years we’ve spent working together. We each know what the other brings to the table and how we can translate that into benefits for our customers and our network,” says Alexander Tonn, who as COO Road Logistics at DACHSER played a key role in supporting and managing the acquisition process from day one. DACHSER & FERCAM Italia will be managed by Dr. Gianfranco Brillante, who headed up distribution and logistics at Fercam for many years and now reports directly to Tonn.

Even though Fercam and DACHSER have enjoyed a well-oiled partnership at all operational levels over the years, merging two logistics systems under the DACHSER roof is a challenge. Roland Hillenbrand is all too aware of this; he was responsible for implementing and organizing the joint venture during his time in the Mergers & Acquisitions department at the DACHSER Head Office in Kempten. “It was an incredibly exciting process that was delivered by many outstanding people on both sides,” he recalls. Today, Hillenbrand is Head of Finance of the new European Logistics Italy business unit. “After DACHSER and Fercam signed the contract in August 2023, everything happened in quick succession. The reorganization was carried out at breakneck speed—and with no interruptions to ongoing business operations. Achieving a feat of that magnitude is possible only if everyone is convinced it will be a success and pulls together.”

Read the full story on DACHSER & FERCAM Italia in our cover story in DACHSER magazine issue 03/24 or directly in the attached PDF.