MILITZER & MÜNCH MAGAZINE ISSUE 01 | 2015

Iran: In the orient –

new beginnings

Strength from their own ranks

ROAD GERMANY:

ON THE TRACK TO SUCCESS

02 | EDITORIAL

DEAR READER:

What drives a country, what is at stake? Operat-ing at over 100 locations in more than 30 countries, we at Militzer & Münch keep asking this question again and again. Actually, we have to ask ourselves this question: After all, of-fering transport services in a country also means dealing with the local conditions. Economic, political, and social devel-opments can have a direct or indirect impact on our work and on the success of one or the other pro-ject. We need to operate in a far-sighted and pro-active way.

Iran serves as a good ex-ample of how the events in a country can influence our activities. In Iran, we go back more than 50 years. The political devel-opments of the past years and their economic con-sequences have left their mark on us. The number of orders decreased, and we have adapted our ac-tivities accordingly.

For some time now, the situation has begun eas-ing off; a loosening of the international sanctions has become more and more palpable. Com-panies are increasingly investing again in Iran. We are closely monitoring the development – and are perfectly prepared for the potential upswing in the Iran business. Read more on this on page 14ff.

In France, the current recession has not yet affected the transport sector; quite the con-trary. For years, Militzer & Münch has been on a growth course – as prov-en, among others, by our latest investments in Lyon, and the traffics to the Maghreb region that we have been running suc-cessfully for over 35 years. (Page 10ff) The rising tendency in goods traffic makes itself felt not only in France, but all over Europe. In-ternational trade is an especially powerful mo-tor of growth and clearly surpasses the increase in national traffic. Militzer &

Münch benefits from the upswing, too: We first offered road trans-ports over 130 years ago and have continuously expanded our network, our know-how, and our service palette. On pages 6 to 9 of this issue we ad-dress the development of our business segment

“Road” in Germany with a comprehensive overview.

Again, there is lots of news from the world of Militzer & Münch. I hope you enjoy reading the new issue of our COMPASS!

Kind regards,

Alexei Kovalenko

Alexei KovalenkoChief Executive OfficerM&M Militzer & Münch

International Holding AG

CONTENTS | 03

Publisher M&M Militzer & Münch International Holding AG Zwinglistr. 25 9000 St. Gallen SWITZERLAND Phone: +41 71 227 15 00 Fax: +41 71 227 15 35 Internet: www.mumnet.com

Responsible for contents Alexei Kovalenko, CEO

Bureau de la rédaction / mise en page STROOMER PR | Concept GmbH Rellinger Straße 64a 20257 Hamburg Germany Phone: +49 40 85 31 33 0 Fax: +49 40 85 31 33 22 E-Mail: mail@stroomer-pr.de

0404 | NEWS

Management Meeting in FrankfurtFrom over 30 countries, Militzer & Münch Managers traveled to Frankfurt for the “International Management Meeting” in early December.

0505 | NEWS

Car parts, per railIn China, Militzer & Münch masters long distance trans-ports – like in the current big project for an automobile maker.

1818 | SPECTRUM

Strength from their own ranksThe second round of the Talent Management Pro-gramme started in summer – the Militzer & Münch pro-gramme to promote future managers.

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In the orient, new beginningsThe flow of goods towards Iran is beginning to pick up speed. For Militzer & Münch, too, the signs point to growth in Iran.

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A brilliant position in France In Lyon, Militzer & Münch France now operates from a new location. The French Militzer & Münch unit has a posi-tive development not only in the South east but all over the country. One of its core competences are the traffics to the Maghreb region that Militzer & Münch has been offering and performing suc-cessfully for over 35 years already.

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06 | FOCUS

Road Germany: On the track to successFreight traffic increases in Europe. In line with this trend, Militzer & Münch in Ger-many is on a growth course in the road transport segment; shipment numbers are rising continuously. A survey of the services, locations, and current challenges for the road segment in Germany.

06

04 |

NEWS//

New Regional Manager: Guillaume de Laagede Meux

In July 2014, Guillaume de Laa-ge de Meux, 46, was appointed the new Regional Manager South West Europe / Maghreb. De Laage de Meux has many years of leadership experience and is familiar with the logistics markets of the region, especial-ly of France: He has been with Militzer & Münch for almost ten years. In July 2010, he was made Managing Director of Militzer & Münch France S.A., a position that the still holds.

Guillaume de Laage de Meux follows Engelbert Heiser, 65, who has retired from the opera-tive side of Militzer & Münch. Engelbert Heiser joined Militzer & Münch in 1972. As a special-ist for France and the Maghreb, he substantially contributed to the development of Militzer & Münch.

Management Meeting in Frankfurt

From Russia, from China and Morocco – from over 30 coun-tries, Militzer & Münch manag-ers traveled to Frankfurt in early December. Their destination: the Group’s “International Man-agement Meeting”.

In his opening speech, CEO Alexei Kovalenko emphasized that the successful course of the Group is being maintained:

“In future, too, our local units operate according to high international standards, com-bined with local know-how.” Also, the Militzer & Münch national units are to cooperate even more closely in the future.

“Moreover, at Militzer & Münch, the customer clearly takes cent-er stage”, says Alexei Kova-lenko. “We are 100 % oriented towards our customers’ indi-vidual requirements, and suc-cessfully implement tailor-made transport solutions in Eurasia and North Africa, as well as air and sea services around the globe. With this approach we are optimally positioned also for the future.”

Starting shot in Dresden The German M&M Militzer & Münch GmbH has expanded its network and opened a branch office in Dresden on 1st Novem-ber 2014. As Business Develop-ment Manager, Andreas Wolf (photo) is responsible for the management and development of the location on the Elbe River. Wolf, 35, has long years of experience in logistics and is an expert for transports to the CIS countries, the region the activities of the new Militzer & Münch location focus on.

“Dresden is a top location with lots of economic potential. This we want to make use of; we want to strengthen our sales activities in the region and con-tinue growing, with the support of Andreas Wolf, in Germany

- and especially in CIS trans-ports”, says Sven-Boris Brunner, Managing Director of M&M Militzer & Münch GmbH and Head of the CIS Competence Center in Stockstadt.

F or 20 years already, Militzer & Münch has been oper-ating in China; and for ten years we have been working for this specific customer”, says Anthony Chan, Managing Director Militzer & Münch China.

“Always successfully, so far. So we are very pleased we were convincing again also with the bid for this project.”

300 containers, 3,000 kilometresThe project that was started in summer 2013 is actually entering the home stretch. After finish-

ing the order as planned in December, the Urumqi team will have trans-ported 300 40’ contain-ers with car parts from Shaanxi in Central china to Alashankou at the Chi-nese-Kazakh border. The 3,000 kilometer distance was not a problem for the Militzer & Münch experts: From Shaanxi, the truck transports were routed through the autonomous region of Xinjiang. Here, the cargo was trans-load-ed onto rails for onward transport. The team had obtained all the export permits and did the cus-toms clearance for the transport to Kazakhstan.

A strong position “As a matter of principle, we offer a wide range of services at all our loca-tions in China. There is

fierce competition, so we position ourselves in the market with additional specialization – just as is the case with the Urumqi branch, with long haul overland transports go-ing to Central Asia”, says Anthony Chan. “I am sure our competent team is going to finalize the order

to the full satisfaction of the customer.”

NEWS | 05

Car parts, via rail The specialty of the Militzer & Münch branch in Urumqi in North West China: long distance rail and road transports. Or, if need be, also in multimodal shipments, like with the current big project for a Chinese automobile maker.

China’s car production is booming: Nowadays, about every fourth car

world-wide is manufac-tured in China.

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Goods traffic is booming in Europe: At the moment, experts are expecting a 38 % rise in freight traffic in Germany alone by 2030. According to the current traffic prognosis of the German Government, the continuing high dynamism of international trade will have a marked impact on freight traffic in the next fifteen years. Thus, cross-

border (+ 42 per cent) and transit transports (+ 52 per cent) will rise more pro-nouncedly than national traffics (+ 31 per cent).

Against this background, industry and commerce need service providers who reliably manage inter-national goods flows via their networks. At Militzer & Münch, trans-border road haulage plays a de-cisive role: “From North Africa to China, Militzer & Münch operates in over 30 countries today. And each of these countries is connected to our road network”, says CEO Alexei

Core competence international traffics: Since Militzer & Münch Germany restruc-tured its road segment five years ago, the road team has been concentrating solely on cross-border transports. Successfully, as the yearly two-digit growth rates of the shipments indicate.

Road Germany:

ON THE TRACK TO SUCCESS

FOCUS | 07

In addition to their own traffics, the Militzer & Münch network is involved in the CargoLine and ELVIS cooperations, for groupage resp. for part loads. The collaboration with CargoLine began five years ago. From Morocco to Mongolia, Militzer & Münch does regular transports for CargoLine to 22 countries. And vice versa, the Militzer & Münch network feeds the groupage shipments of its customers for Germany and West Europe into the CargoLine network.

Militzer & Münch began cooperating with ELVIS two years ago. The “Europäische Ladungs-Verbund Internationaler Spediteure“ (European loading association of international forwarders) estab-lished Germany’s first part load network in 2011. Associates are the Militzer & Münch units in Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Rumania, Russia and the Baltic States. Via ELVIS, Militzer & Münch transports part loads measuring up to six loading meters.

Stronger togetherKovalenko.

Know-how and special servicesIn Germany alone, the Mil-itzer & Münch road network comprises ten Militzer & Münch locations at this time. Each boasts special know-how and offers their customers special services (cf. survey map on page 8). The most recent loca-tion is Dresden. Opened in November 2014, the new Dresden branch office op-erates mainly as a project logistics consultant for the plant design and construc-tion industry.

Whether groupage, part load, full loads or oversize transports – by nature, pick-ing up and distributing the goods is the core area of the road segment. Addition-ally to transport, Militzer & Münch offers its customers the service sectors ware-housing, customs, and con-sulting. Thus, the Hamburg and Eichenzell branch offices offer contract logistics solu-

tions, including value adding services such as the labeling of goods. Customs manage-ment including customs clearance and consulting are provided at the locations in Hof – the Customs Compe-tence Center for all Militzer & Münch branches – and Bad Reichenhall on the Austrian border.

Always well advised“We lay special emphasis on the competent guidance for our customers in all ques-tions pertaining to import and export”, says Simon Fundel, Manager Road Lo-gistics at Militzer & Münch.

“To give an example, we set up import concepts cus-tomized to the individual requirements, taking into consideration all necessary product certifications, con-formity certificates, stand-ards and norms.”

>>

“We want to convince additional companies - with our speed, our customer orientation, and the quality of our services along all international routes.“ Alexei Kovalenko

• Dresden

• Hamburg

• Nürnberg

• Eichenzell• Hof

• Berlin

• München

• Stuttgart

• Stock-stadt

• Bad Reichenhall

08 | FOCUS

>>

For certain countries and regions, Militzer & Münch Germany has established specific consulting teams; like the CIS Competence Center at Stockstadt near Aschaffenburg. Here, Mil-itzer & Münch Germany bundles all activities in the CIS and offers comprehen-sive consulting as to import, export, and market entry in the region.

Teamwork for the new Tunisia trafficsMilitzer & Münch also attaches great impor-tance to the cooperation between the diverse teams. “Our new traffics to Tunisia serve as a good example here”, explains

Simon Fundel, “where our branch offices in Eichenzell, Stockstadt, and Tunisia work hand in hand.” The Eichenzell team does the groupage precarriage from Germany and Europe, or-ganizes the cross docking and loading of the ship-ments. Militzer & Münch Stockstadt manages the development, organization, and control of the main leg to and from Tunisia. The team also routes the trans-

ports via Genoa. In North Africa, then, Militzer & Münch Tunisia handles the transport to the customs warehouse and the distri-bution of the goods to the consignees.

“With our perfect coop-eration, we now make scheduled transit times of only two days between Eichenzell and our Tunisian

Stuttgart

Groupage, part load, full load transports

Focus (countries): East and South East Europe, CIS

Project logistics / rail competence

Consulting in the Russian customs area

Hof

Groupage, part load, full load transports

Specialty Iran and South East Europe

Customs Compe-tence Center

Bad Reichenhall

Customs clearance service

Customs consultation

Nuremberg

Full truck load shipping towards the CIS

Project logistics

Focus machinery and plant engineering

Stockstadt

Groupage, part load, full load transports

Focus (countries): East and South west Europe, North Africa, Turkey, and the CIS

Focus (industries): chemi-cal, pharmaceutical, and high tech

Temperature-controlled transports to South East Europe

CIS Competence Center

Hamburg

Groupage, part load, full load transports

Contract logistics

Focus: high tech, re - newable energies

HUB Eichenzell

Europe-wide groupage traffics

Contract logistics

Consulting (foreign trade and customs guidance)

Customs management

Dresden

New since Novem-ber 2014

Consulting in pro-ject logistics

Focus: machinery and plant enginee-ring

Berlin

Groupage, part load, full load transports

Rail groupage trans-ports to Mongolia

Jan Stüber, Branch Manager at the M&M

location Bad Reichenhall.

Munich

Groupage, part load, full load transports

Focus (countries): East and South East Europe, Turkey, and Iran

Temperature-controlled transports to Iran

FOCUS | 09

Location, Radès”, says Simon Fundel. “There is big demand for our Tunisia traffics, especially among the automotive suppliers, whose goods have to arrive at the North African auto plants fast and in time.”

Militzer & Münch also no-tices a marked increase in shipment numbers, among others, with the Germany-Turkey and Germany-Iran routes. They, too, boast short transit times, closely synchronized departure frequencies as well as com-pany-owned customs and distribution services in the countries of destination. Says Simon Fundel: “As we are continually developing these traffics, we are also creating additional added value for the customer.”

Rates? Within seconds Positive in every respect – this is then how one can sum up the development of Militzer & Münch Ger-many’s road segment. Yet the team around Simon Fundel are not resting on their laurels; they rather put

their own processes to test again and again, improve the procedures used, and develop new products and services: Recently, they in-troduced temperature-con-trolled transports to South East Europe and Iran; now the online rate calculator is almost ready for roll-out. With its help, the consult-ants can calculate exact rates even for unusual routes within seconds.

“We want to convince even more customers – with our speed, our customer orientation, and our quality performance on all interna-tional routes,” says Alexei Kovalenko.

Mr. Fundel, what are the biggest challenges in the German road sec-tor at this time?This year, we are witness-ing a formidable business development in Germany. And we are very happy about the high motivation of our staff. In constantly developing this growth, together with the satisfac-tion of our personnel in a sustainable way I see the biggest challenge, but also the biggest chance.

Exactly how does Militzer & Münch en-force these topics?In order to continue grow-ing, we strengthen sales and operations, standard-izing the systems and pro-cesses even more than be-fore. Concerning the staff, the basis is the willingness to teamwork. There-fore, we support team events like the participa-tion in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge in Frankfurt, and ensure the exchange of personnel, and of knowledge, within

the Group. Germany is a good example of success-ful network integration. Today, the branch offices seek the open dialogue with the foreign Militzer & Münch units and with our partners, and work on solutions in constructive team work.

What are Militzer & Münch’s plans for the future of the business segment road?In the first six months of 2014, there was again two-digit growth in the num-ber of shipments within the Militzer & Münch net-work. We want to continue this trend. By focusing on the Militzer & Münch net-work and by expanding strategic partnerships, it can be achieved.

3 questions for Simon Fundel

Simon Fundel, 36, has been with Militzer & Münch, segment road, since 2009. In our inter-view, he talks about the challenges, chances, and objec-tives of the German road segment.

//////////////////////////////////////////////

Every year, during Lyon’s Fête des Lumières, colorfully lighted buildings and squares illuminate the night – just like the „Théâtre des Célestins“ pictured here.

A BRILLIANT POSITION IN FRANCE France, situated at the heart of Europe, is the EU’s second biggest national economy. For almost four decades, Militzer & Münch has been operating in the country, and growing continually. Like in Lyon, where the French Militzer & Münch unit recently moved into a new and extended location.

10 | REGION

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Lyon is il-luminated: once a year

– on the days around De-cember 8 – the city in the South East of France is bathed in a sea of lights. During the “Fête des Lumières“, Lyon’s tradi-tional “festival of lights”, artists from all over the world turn the town into one overall work of art with the help of LEDs and laser beams. Facades seem to be dancing, fantasy figures are seen climbing up the cathedral walls, and colorful flowers decorate sidewalks and squares. Every year, the pre-Christmas event – an old custom from over 150 years ago – attracts up to four million visitors.

Yet the capital of the Rhône-Alpes region is impressive all year round: With its greater area counting about two mil-lion inhabitants, Lyon is among the major eco-nomic centers of Western Europe. This is owed most of all to the city’s favorable location. Lyon is France’s second biggest rail way hub and was the first city, in 1981, to be connected via the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) to Paris. Moreover, the

“Autoroute du Soleil”, the important and busy north-south highway, con-

nects Lyons to the sprawl-ing city of Marseille.

Flagship in LyonMilitzer & Münch has been making use of the business location that is Lyon since years. Re-cently, the French Militzer & Münch unit moved to considerably bigger new premises there, invest-ing several million euros into the new terminal. It is located at Pusignan, just two kilometers from the airport. There, the Lyon branch office now has at its disposal, since the end of June 2014, about 10,000 square meters of warehousing area and an office building of over 1,000 square meters. A staff of 36 works at Pusig-nan. “The Lyon location is the new flagship of Militzer & Münch France”, says Guillaume de Laage de Meux, Managing Di-rector Militzer & Münch France SA and Regional Managing Director South West Europe / Maghreb.

“By moving, we can now cover the business seg-ments road, air and sea as well as logistics projects under one roof and can meet our customers’ re-quirements even better.”

Well positioned throughout the countryNot only in the Rhône-Alpes region does Militzer

& Münch grow – it is well positioned all over the country. In eight branch offices, over 180 employ-ees handle more than 100,000 shipments per year. Almost 50 percent of the turnover is generated in the Maghreb trans-ports (cf. page 12, 13), the other half comes from classic transport lines within Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. “We transport the major part of the goods via road, yet we also offer rail freight, air and sea freight as well as special project and logistics services.” The goods transported cover a wide range and com-prise big machinery and construction parts for the industry, but also cloth and garments as well as cosmetics and perfumes.

“Over that past years, Militzer & Münch has been able to continually strengthen its position in France as a reliable trans-port service provider”, says Guillaume de Laage de Meux. “This is a very positive development – especially in view of the economic situation in France that seems to be going downward rather

than up.” A major aim for Militzer & Münch France is to perform, also in the future, outstanding, top level services for their 4,000 customers and thus to maintain the excellent position in the French logistics market. So, in France, not only Lyon is shining bright – Militzer & Münch holds a brilliant positon there, too.

The new Militzer & Münch terminal at

Pusignan near Lyon.

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B y tra-dition, intensive social, political, and economic relations link France and the southern Mediter-ranean region. They go back to their joint past: Large parts of North Africa used to belong to the French colonies until the 1960s. After the end of colonialism,

France placed emphasis on privileged ties to the Maghreb states, ties that provide close connected-ness to this day.

Competent and reliable“Our Maghreb activi-ties started in the late 1970s, with project trans-ports to Algeria”, says Sébastien Rouvin, Direc-tor Maghreb - Turkey at Militzer & Münch France SA. “Step by step, we developed our network and adapted it optimally to the locally different conditions. Which means,

we especially focused on competent local teams who support our custom-ers with local knowhow.” Today, Militzer & Münch has its own country units in Morocco and Tunisia, where a staff of 150 oper-ates at seven locations. In Algeria, Militzer & Münch cooperates with a partner.

To the Maghreb, with 200 trailers From France, Militzer & Münch transports the Maghreb shipments to North Africa via road and

Ro-Ro ferry. Militzer & Münch France has about 200 trailers designated specifically for this line. Each one of the eight French Militzer & Münch branch offices does transports to Morocco and Tunisia autono-mously, offering their groupage customers at least two departures per week. Full truck loads

Focus on Maghreb Transports to the Maghreb region are of essential impor-tance to Militzer & Münch France, accounting for almost 50 per cent of its total transport volume. In spite of the currently often difficult economic and political situation in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, Militzer & Münch has stood for smooth logistics services in this region for over 35 years.

EVERYTHING FROM ONE SOURCEWith all Maghreb trans-ports, it does not matter whether it is a full truck load or groupage, air-freight, sea freight or a pro-ject transport – no matter what the demand, Militzer & Münch offers the perfect solution.

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REGION | 13

depart even on a daily basis. The transit times are short: It takes Militzer & Münch between three and four days for the transport from terminal to terminal.

For Militzer & Münch France, the most impor-tant Maghreb trade lane is Morocco with 35,000 shipments (2013), closely followed by Tunisia with about 32,000 shipments. The team handled 1,000 transport units going to Algeria last year.

An old proverb from the Maghreb says: “The Maghreb is a sacred

bird. Its body is Algeria; its right wing is Tunisia,

its left wing Morocco.” Together with the North African countries named

here, sometimes also Libya and Mauretania

are counted among the Maghreb states. Com-monalities as to their

history and geography unite these countries.

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M&M MILITZER & MÜNCH FRANCE SA AT A GLANCE

Founded: 1976

Services:• Fulltruckloadandless-than-truck-load

transports, groupage transports• Expressshipments,nationaland

international • Airandseafreight• Railtransports• Customsclearanceand

warehousing services• Transittransports• Dangerousgoodsandheavylifttransports• Logisticsservices• Specialprojectservices

Locations: eight – covering the entire country

Staff: 187

Head office: Halluin (Lille)

Contact:M&M Militzer & Münch France SAAvenue de Menin59250 HalluinFrance

Phone: +33 3 20 25 95 25Fax: +33 3 20 23 86 77E-Mail : halluin@mumnet.com

In the orient: new beginnings

Valuable natural resources, a central situation, a huge domestic market – Iran holds big economic potential.

After the international trade relations had largely paused in the past years owing to the sanctions, goods are gra-

dually beginning to flow again towards the Middle East. All signs point to growth– also for Militzer & Münch.

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Alexei Kovalenko. “Our customers are prepared for a possible lifting of the trade embargo, and so are we. We keep enforcing the strict compliance require-ments when transporting goods to Iran, and take the country-specific condi-tions into consideration.”

Especially those countries that already have close trade relations with Iran would profit. In Europe, these are primarily Germa-ny, Italy, Switzerland, and France. In all these coun-tries, Militzer & Münch has long years of experience in Iran transports, in some cases already for over 50 years. The coopera-tion between Militzer & Münch Germany and the Iranian affiliate PTB Perse International Forward-ing Co. goes back to the early 1960s (see below). Today, the company is the most important link for all Militzer & Münch units for their activities in Iran, in

terms of road, but also air and sea freight transports.

„Made in Germany“ for IranGermany has been and still is among the most important European trade partners of Iran. “Made in Germany“ scores high. The majority of goods exported these last years were machinery, followed by chemical products, and food.

All German activities in the field of Iran traffics are coordinated by the Iran Competence Center of M&M Militzer & Münch GmbH (the German road transport unit) in Munich.

At this time, the Munich branch is handling the largest volume of Iran transports; in the first nine months of this year, they had already 900 shipments. For the smooth handling of the orders, team work is a prerequisite – nation-ally as well as internation-ally. Within Germany, the Munich team cooperates closely with the Iran spe-cialists of the other branch offices. In Iran, PTB is the strong partner. >>

D esert and mountain ranges characterize the land-scape between the Cas-pian Sea in the North and the Persian Gulf in the South. Only about ten per cent of the area are arable land and are used for the cultivation if rice, sugar cane, cotton and other agricultural products. The most important eco-nomic sector of the coun-try is the production of crude oil and natural gas. The country’s resources of the fossil raw materials count among the largest reserves worldwide.

Yet Iran is economically interesting not only for its natural resources. Iran is among the 20 biggest countries globally, by its area and number of inhab-itants. The Iranian market corresponds in size. The country has a high de-mand especially for for-eign imports - machinery, chemical products, and food. Moreover, as part of the Old Silk Road, Iran connects to this day the most important Asian cultural and economic regions and is, owing to its situation, a major tran-sit country from and to Central Asia.

A certain détenteOwing to the international economic sanctions, trade relations have been on the decline over the past years. If the trade limitations are partially lifted, an upswing in the international trade relations with Iran is to be expected. “Concerning Iran, industry and com-merce have acted guard-edly for a long time. In the meantime though, we are noticing growing interest in investing in Iran and in boosting trade”, says CEO

More than half a century ago, in 1960, a Militzer & Münch truck departed from Munich headed for Iran – a premiere and a true pioneering feat of the com-pany that had so far transported goods exclusively via sea or rail to the West-Asian country. The biggest challenge at that time: almost no tarmacked roads, potholes, heat and high moun-tains with tight serpentines.

Yet Militzer & Münch masters all the obstacles, and soon the road trans-ports prove to be a success: already in June 1961, the fiftieth truck is on its way to Teheran. And that same year,

the sister company PTB Perse Interna-tional Forwarding Co. was founded – at that time still under the name of Perse Transport Bar Co. Ltd. – in order to simplify transport processes locally as a reliable partner of Militzer & Münch.

Soon further activities like sea cargo handling and terminal operations were added, additional companies were founded. Today, PTB Perse Interna-tional Forwarding Co. is part of the PTB Group. The Tehran-based Group, Iran’s leading logistics services provid-er, comprises diverse business sectors.

Unity is strength in Iran: Militzer & Münch and PTB

Un moment historique : en 1960, Militzer & Münch démarre les

premiers transports par camion vers l’Iran.

PTB GROUP – THE MILITZER & MÜNCH NETWORK IN IRAN

Founded: 1961

Head office: Tehran

Branch offices: 14

Staff: Over 600 in the Group

Services:• Internationalforwarding,• company-ownedterminalfacilitieswithrailsi-

ding• portseacargohandling• warehousinglogistics• customsclearance• Warehousingarea:

24,000 m2 covered warehouse, almost 300,000 m2 open storage area

Contact :PTB Group Perse International Forwarding Co. Ltd.225 Ostad Motahari Ave.P.O. Box 15875 – 9595IR – 15876 Tehran

Phone: +9821 829 11Fax: +9821 88 73 57 93E-Mail: perse@ptbnet.com

>>

“PTB is the number one of the Iranian logistics market, and has an excel-lent service portfolio, a strong network, and the necessary know-how. We have been working together for many years now across all business segments, and that with great success”, says Sven-Boris Brunner, Managing Director of M&M Militzer & Münch GmbH. “In the past few months, we have prepared for the easing of the sanctions; together with PTB, we have worked on new strategies for the Iranian market and strengthened our sales activities.”

SWITZERLAND: customized transport solutions

“Decisive if you want to operate successfully in Iran are experience and flexibility. You have to understand the country and the mentality, and this does not only con-

cern the language”, says Daniel Brun. Since 2011, he has been manager of the Basel Branch of the Swiss M&M Militzer & Münch AG; he is respon-sible for the Iran traffics sector. Iran has been the core competence of the branch office ever since it was founded exactly 30 years ago. Daniel Brun has been on board for almost 25 years. “It is our job to come up with solu-tions that are customized to the requirements of our customers.”

The Basel team around Daniel Brun have proven that they meet their cus-tomer’s demands – the number of orders is rising continuously. For one Swiss-based key account from the chemical and food industry, Militzer & Münch Basel has been handling regular trans-ports to Iran for some time already.

“In case the sanctions are ended, the demand for the Switzerland-Iran trade lane will definitely

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The PTB Group’s Tehran Container Terminal (TCT) at the port of Bandar Abbas.

IRAN

Tehran

Bandar Anzali

Tãbris Astara

BazarganJolfa

SarakhsAgh-Ghala

Lotfabad

Badj-Giran

Maschhad

Taybad

Isfahan

Bandar-e Imam Chomeini

Bandar Abbas

16 | REGION

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increase. We estimate a growth in volume of 30 to 40 per cent”, says Daniel Brun.

FR ANCE: strong in project transportAlso in France, Iran’s third biggest trade partner, Mil-itzer & Münch has a long tradition of Iran trans-ports. 40 years ago, M&M Militzer & Münch France S.A. started its first trans-port to Iran. Although the economic sanctions have complicated mat-ters, the French Militzer & Münch unit was able to develop its activities recently. With the start in 2010 of the cooperation with a new customer the volume grew considerably. Nowadays, M&M France handles about 500 trans-ports per year to Iran for the customer.

For M&M France, Iran plays a decisive role in transit transports. For various big projects, M&M

France has been doing transports to Central Asia since 1994. From Europe, routed along the Silk Road across Turkey and Iran, the goods reach the Iran-Turkmenistan border. And for shipments from the Far East or Europe, the port of Bandar Abbas serves as the most impor-tant trans-shipment hub, before the goods transit Iran via truck. For these projects – as well as for all Iran activities of Militzer & Münch – cooperation with PTB is essential.

Trade relations to Iran are burgeoning in Germany, in Switzerland, and in France. If the political situation eases, new pos-sibilities would be open to companies and to forwarders alike. Both parties look to the Middle East, full of expectations. As does Militzer & Münch. “We aim to profit from the huge possibilities the country offers, and to

A legendary being from Persian mythol-ogy: the simurgh. The creature – most often depicted as a bird – symbolizes

protection and is said to have supernat-ural powers. The simurgh’s equivalent

in the Western World is the phoenix.

strengthen our position. We have paved the way”, says Alexei Kovalenko. Concerning Iran, there prevails a sense of posi-tive anticipation at Militzer & Münch.

18 | SPECTRUM

STRENGTH FROM THEIR OWN RANKSDifferentcountries,languages,workexperience – yet one factor unites the 19 Militzer & Münch employees: They are all participants in the second course of the

“Talent Management Programme“ (TMP), Militzer & Münch’s in-service training to promote future managers from their own ranks.

From Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkey and other nations, this year’s participants traveled to Sankt Gallen, Switzerland, this summer for their first TMP module. In their country units, they had shown the potential to take on extended tasks and more responsibility, be it as route manager, tender manager or sales representative. Through excellent performance as well as exceptionally high motivation, commitment

and initiative, they quali-fied for the TMP and were selected.

“We are proud to have the resources to recruit our own future managers from our own ranks”, says CEO Alexei Kovalenko. “For us, the Talent Mana-gement Programme is the best way to promote talented employees, to offer them a perspective, and to continue, toge-ther with them, on our successful path. After the success of the first course we are delighted we were able to win again 19 highly qualified and promising colleagues for the programme.”

SPECTRUM | 19

Militzer & Münch deve-loped the course in close collaboration with the University of St. Gallen. The first series started in 2011, with 20 participants. The current modules took place in St. Gallen, Swit-zerland, and Frankfurt, Germany.

Knowledge from top managersIn the course of one year, the young men and women attend three mo-dules with different study focuses (see info diagram on the right). Militzer & Münch places emphasis on the close connection between theory and practice. The workshops are taught by lecturers from St. Gallen University, managers from Militzer & Münch illustrate the topics with additional lec-tures. In this year’s TMP, CEO Alexei Kovalenko and the top management members Sacho Todorov, Klaus Jäger and Sven-Boris Brunner exemplify the theory using real cases from the world of Militzer & Münch.

Once they have finished the programme the doors to promising careers with Militzer & Münch are open to the graduates. The company supports and promotes its junior staff during the TMP. In individual talks with senior management, the personal developmental status is defined; then internal job opportunities are sought and pres-ented.

A course that unites When the participants have successfully ab-solved the Talent Mana-gement Programme 2015, they return to their countries – with lots of useful knowledge for their daily work, and with a certificate.

“Apart from the profes-sional development, the TMP is a great opportu-nity for our young talents to personally meet col-leagues from Militzer & Münch units in other countries, to streng-then their inter-cultural competencies and to

forge links”, says Alexei Kovalenko. “After all, it is the close links among the world-wide Militzer & Münch units that distin-guish us.”

Adequate talents are recommended by the Managing Direc-tors of the country units as well as by the Regional Managing Director

Teaching module 1: Strategy, leadership, finances & controlling, marketing & sales

Teaching module 2: Processes & quality stand-ards, product develop-ment, information technol-ogy, change management

Teaching module 3: International teams work on a several-month project to come up with solutions to current chal-lenges

Final exam, presentation of the project; the certificates are handed over during the International Manage-ment Meeting 2015

Good mood in St. Gallen: For the

first module the parti-cipants of this year’s

TMP convened in Switzerland.

Participants are selec-ted and mentored by Dr. Thorsten Klaas-Wis-sing from the University of St. Gallen and TMP initia-tor Klaus-Dieter Pietsch – in close coordination with CEO Alexei Kovalenko

The process and the topics of the Talent Management Pro-gramme - a synopsis:

Along the Silk Road, where once spices and carpets used to travel, Militzer & Münch was the first, 50 years ago, to connect Europe and South West Asia. To this day, we are your strong partner for customized transport solutions to Iran. Whether from Germany or France, whether by road or by sea: We keep an eye on every detail.

www.mumnet.com

An eye on every detail.

CONNECTING WORLDS.

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