CEO says ‘Intelligent companies’ will pay attention to logistics industry


John Pattullo, CEO of CEVA Logistics, described his company a “truly international combination.”

“Our head office is registered in the U.K., while the company is owned by an American private equity. And the name is Italian,” the Scotsman told The Korea Herald.

CEVA Logistics was established in August 2007, from the merger of TNT Logistics and EGL.

Even though the name may be unfamiliar to many outside the industry, the company has become the world’s fourth-largest logistics company with $9 billion in revenue last year. 

The CEO visited Seoul last week to celebrate the success of the company’s Korean business and to meet its global partners such as Korean Air, which is one of the company’s top three air freight partners.

“Within Asia, one of our most successful markets in terms of growth is Korea. We have grown well above the market and established ourselves as a top five performer within the international logistics players in Korea,” he said.

The CEO’s brief three-day visit also attracted keen interest among industry watchers here.

In June, CJ Group became a preferred bidder to acquire Korea Express, the nation’s largest logistics company, beating a Samsung-POSCO consortium. Amid the fierce bidding war between major Korean conglomerates, the logistics industry emerged as one of the most dynamic business sectors here.

“Intelligent companies will want to enter the industry. What is happening in Korea seems to be very logical,” he said.

According to the CEO, the global market for logistics has grown much faster than GDP in recent years, while the top 10 global companies have less than 30 percent of the market share.

Coupled with the globalization of supply chain and outsourcing trend, the CEO expected that the market will continue to see a rapid growth above GDP.

The CEO, however, predicted the business impact that Korean competitors will have in CEVA’s business will be very limited, saying the market was very fragmented.

His confidence comes from the business-to-business company’s focus group of 100 clients that the company calls “Century Partnership Account.”

Focusing on specific customers in five sectors such as automotive, technology, energy, consumer and retail and industrial, the company has set up a well-defined business model of selling integrated logistics and freight management solutions, the CEO said.

Based on the unique strategy, the company has grown faster than both the market and the average of its leading competitors since its establishment in 2007. And the CEO said the company was still hungry for growth.

“Market growth this year in logistics is expected to be 6.5 percent. Our strategy is to do better than that,” said the CEO, showing confidence in the company’s performance this year.

CEVA experienced a temporary slowdown in its automotive business early this year following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Despite the double disaster, the company performed well, particularly in Asia-Pacific.

During the first quarter of this year, the company brought in more than $736 million of new business with a record performance in March.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)