Chief Executive Officer — Freight-Forwarding Network

The mandate

This international freight-forwarding network connects customers to ocean, air and multimodal capacity through a mix of owned offices and agents. Revenue has grown, yet profit and cash have become inconsistent. Branches price locally while capacity is procured regionally, buy rates change faster than customer contracts, and shipment costs or accessorials arrive after margin is reported. Strong volume on several major lanes is masking weak contribution and working-capital exposure.

The group is creating a Chief Executive Officer role to restore network economics without weakening service or compliance. The CEO will own strategy, profit and loss, trade lanes, customers, procurement, operations, customs, technology priorities and organisation. Country leaders retain local responsibility, while control functions retain independent authority. The CEO must make each lane and shipment accountable across origin, main carriage and destination.

This urgent new appointment is not a broad cost programme. The board wants better choices about customers, lanes, carriers and capacity commitments, supported by operating execution. The business should stop buying volume that destroys cash, while protecting relationships where service quality and network density create durable value.

Scope and operating context

The hybrid role is anchored in Rotterdam and influences approximately 700 employees and material partners across the Netherlands and a wider international region. The perimeter includes air and ocean forwarding, road and rail interfaces, trade-lane management, carrier procurement, operations, customs, customer service, pricing and country branches. Agents, subcontractors, terminals, airlines and ocean carriers form a material part of delivery.

Forwarding margin is affected by timing and detail. Weight, dimensions, route, equipment, fuel, peak surcharges, demurrage, detention, storage, screening, customs and last-mile change after booking. A quoted shipment can appear profitable until invoices and exceptions are reconciled. Different stations may also claim the same value or leave cost without an owner.

Service and compliance remain critical. Customers rely on accurate documents, customs treatment, routing and status. A profitable rate cannot justify sanctions exposure, cargo misdeclaration, unsafe handling or unreliable delivery. The reset must improve control and economics together.

First-year agenda

The first seventy-five days will create a network profit and cash baseline. The CEO will reconcile shipment revenue, buy cost, accrual, accessorial, claim, credit, duty advance, payment and operational effort by customer, lane, mode and station. A sample of supposedly strong and weak shipments will be traced to identify timing, allocation and data defects.

Trade-lane ownership will then be made explicit. Each priority lane will have an accountable leader for proposition, target customers, capacity, rate, balance, service and contribution across both ends. Origin and destination branches cannot optimise their local result by transferring cost or poor service to the network.

Capacity procurement will follow demand quality. Annual and block-space commitments, named-account rates, spot buying and consolidation will be compared by utilisation, volatility, service and downside. The business will retain strategic access but stop commitments whose demand depends on optimistic pipeline. Carrier concentration and recovery options will remain visible.

Pricing will include service and exception reality. Standard rate logic will account for mode, route, equipment, density, security, customs and credit. Quotes with uncertain dimensions, routing or local charges will state conditions. Sales authority will reflect margin and cash risk; urgent customer requests cannot erase sanctions, capacity or credit control.

Accrual and cost capture will be repaired at shipment level. Expected charges will be recorded when the operational event occurs, matched promptly and investigated by cause. Repeated late invoices or accessorial disputes will trigger supplier and process action. Finance will not wait for month-end to reveal that a lane sold below cost.

Operations will focus on first-time documentation and exception prevention. Booking, dangerous goods, screening, customs data, hand-off, track and trace and proof of delivery will have clear ownership. Automation will remove predictable manual work, but unusual cargo requires skilled judgement. Customer communication will distinguish a confirmed event from an estimated one.

Customs and trade controls will retain independence. Classification, origin, value, licences, sanctions, denied parties and record keeping must be accurate. Commercial pressure to meet a departure will not justify incomplete data or routing through a prohibited path. Duty and tax advances will have customer and credit controls.

The customer portfolio will be segmented by contribution, network fit, volatility, payment and service requirements. Some low-margin volume may support consolidation density; that benefit must be evidenced. Bespoke customers will pay for operational complexity or receive a redesigned service. Relationships that cannot meet responsible economics will be exited in an orderly way.

Working capital will become an operating measure. Billing readiness, dispute, duty advance, carrier terms, agent balances and receivables will be reviewed by lane and account. The CEO will avoid improving cash through supplier pressure that destabilises critical capacity. By year-end, priority lanes should show reconciled contribution, improved accrual accuracy and reduced cash leakage.

Leadership responsibilities

The CEO will lead the forwarding executive and report to the group board and Group Chief Executive. They will own one version of volume, service, profit and cash across modes and countries. Country and functional disagreement will be resolved through network value rather than internal transfer pricing alone.

They will maintain senior relationships with strategic customers, carriers, agents and authorities. The executive must negotiate firmly while preserving the trust needed during disruption. Service failures and compliance events require direct ownership and truthful communication.

The role will build trade-lane, procurement and branch leaders with end-to-end accountability. Incentives will balance contribution, service, cash and compliance. Volume without economic or operational quality will not be celebrated.

Measures of success

The board will track net revenue, contribution and cash by lane, customer and mode; shipment accrual accuracy; buy-rate variance; capacity utilisation; accessorial recovery; billing; dispute and working capital. It will separate temporary market-rate benefit from structural improvement.

Service measures include booking quality, departure, arrival, delivery, exception recurrence, claims and customer communication. Compliance covers customs errors, sanctions, dangerous goods, screening and record integrity. Leadership depth and station adoption of lane accountability will also be reviewed.

Candidate profile

Candidates should bring more than 28 years in freight forwarding, logistics, carriers or global supply-chain services. They must have run an international network or substantial P&L across air and ocean and restored lane economics through commercial and operational action.

The board will seek examples of exiting destructive volume, changing a capacity commitment and correcting shipment-level margin leakage. Candidates should understand carrier procurement, customs, pricing, operations, agents, claims, technology and working capital.

The successful CEO will be commercially decisive and operationally detailed. They must challenge country autonomy without suffocating local customer knowledge and remain calm when market rates, capacity and geopolitics move at once.

Compensation and appointment terms

Base compensation is expected from EUR 410,000 to EUR 590,000, accompanied by annual incentive and long-term participation. Reward will balance structural contribution, service, cash, compliance and leadership depth. Final terms will reflect comparable network scope and verified forfeited awards.

Confidentiality

The network remains unnamed because customer lanes, carrier rates, capacity positions and control issues are sensitive. Detailed information will follow identity, conflict and confidentiality review. Applicants must not submit customer shipment records, rate sheets, customs data or proprietary network economics.