Thomas L. Gallagher | Jul 21, 2009 2:40PM EDT
C.H. Robinson Worldwide acquired international freight forwarder Walker Logistics Overseas.
London-based Walker, established in 1977, is a global, fully integrated import and export door-to-door provider specializing in air and ocean freight, warehousing, courier, and logistics solutions. Its 75 employees work in five offices throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands.
C.H. Robinson, a non-asset-based third-party logistics company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn., has 27 branches and more than 380 multilingual employees in Europe. Its global network of more than 227 offices and approximately 7,500 employees in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and the Middle East produced annual gross revenue of approximately $8.6 billion in 2008.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Walker’s founders, Phillip Walker and Brett O’Connor, will remain through a transition period. Walker employees Steve Buckerfield, managing director of the United Kingdom, Jan Ten Cate, managing director of the Netherlands, and Nick Job, sales director, will continue with C.H. Robinson in their existing roles.
"We are continuing to invest in C.H. Robinson’s global network to enhance our service offerings to our customers. Walker expands our capabilities in the Asia-to-Europe trade and strengthens our distribution and gateway capabilities for two key European markets — London and Amsterdam," said Jeff Scovill, C.H. Robinson vice president. "Walker’s team has extensive knowledge of the local market, which will provide strong competitive advantages and benefits to our customers."
Contact Thomas L. Gallagher at tgallagher@joc.com.
