Chief Operating Officer — Freight-Forwarding Network

The mandate

An international freight-forwarding network has allowed several anchor customers to shape gateway routines, carrier allocations and specialist teams. Those accounts remain valuable, but their concentration limits commercial choices and makes new customers difficult to absorb. The COO role must protect today's flows while redesigning operations for a broader portfolio.

Approximately 2,100 employees and material partners span ocean and air forwarding, gateways, customs, consolidation, customer operations, procurement, quality and transformation from Rotterdam. The COO owns network operations, service delivery, facilities, carrier execution, workforce deployment and operational improvement, reporting to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive-committee sponsor.

The first diagnostic will identify where customer specificity is necessary. Controlled products, buyer consolidation, special documentation and committed capacity may warrant dedicated treatment. Other account routines persist because teams built workarounds around historic demands. The COO will separate contractual differentiation from habit before changing roles or systems.

Gateway flow must become visible by shipment stage. Booking readiness, document completeness, customs status, cargo receipt, consolidation, carrier cut-off and departure will use common event definitions. Queue age and exception ownership matter more than aggregate files handled. The network should discover a missed cut-off before a customer does.

Carrier capacity will be governed as a portfolio. Anchor commitments, spot opportunities, minimums, allocations and performance need one view by trade lane. The COO will prevent local teams from protecting one account at the cost of greater network contribution without an explicit decision and recorded consequence.

Consolidation design will balance density with service. More cargo in a gateway can lower unit cost but add dwell, hand-offs and failure exposure. Schedules, cut-offs and feeder options should reflect actual arrival variability. The operating model will show which flows merit direct routing and which benefit from consolidation.

Customs and documentation capability is a strategic constraint. New customer segments may introduce unfamiliar classifications, origins or security filings. Operations will not accept growth that depends on unsupported broker judgement. Competence, escalation and audit evidence must be established before volume arrives.

Customer onboarding needs operational acceptance. Forecast, shipment profile, data, service conditions, cut-offs, escalation and billing assumptions should be tested with representative orders. The COO may delay a launch when readiness is incomplete, even if commercial teams have announced the date. A controlled start protects diversification better than a visible early failure.

Workforce design will reduce dependence on account-specific knowledge. Cross-training must cover actual files and exceptions, not classroom attendance. Specialists will remain where customer or regulatory complexity requires them, but ownership and succession cannot reside with one coordinator. Peak coverage will be planned by trade-lane demand rather than account hierarchy.

Service recovery will use consequence-led priorities. When capacity or documentation fails, teams need rules for customer commitments, cargo sensitivity, connections and value at risk. Executive escalation should decide genuine conflicts. Loudest-customer allocation will no longer serve as an operating policy.

Facilities and partners form part of the network. Handling agents, hauliers, warehouses and brokers require measurable hand-off and incident standards. Supplier performance will include information timeliness and recovery behaviour. The COO will establish alternatives for dependencies whose failure would stop multiple customer flows.

Economics will be measured by lane, gateway and service pattern. Rework, demurrage, detention, premium uplift, claims and unbilled activity should reach operating reviews. A major account's gross margin can conceal the capacity it prevents the network from deploying elsewhere. Finance and operations will agree a decision-grade contribution view.

The replacement transition must reassure anchor customers without allowing them to veto necessary resilience. The incoming COO will meet critical sponsors, clarify continuity and preserve agreed commitments. Changes will be sequenced through gateways rather than launched simultaneously to signal decisiveness.

What you will own

• Freight-forwarding network and gateway operations.
• Customer-specific versus standard operating design.
• Shipment events, queues and exception ownership.
• Carrier capacity and consolidation choices.
• Customs, documentation and onboarding readiness.
• Workforce deployment, partners and continuity.
• Service recovery and operating economics.
• COO transition and operational succession.

The first 12 months

Within 30 days, secure the outgoing COO's handover, protect anchor-account peak commitments and map customer-specific dependencies by gateway and trade lane. Stop any new launch lacking customs, capacity or data readiness.

By month six, implement common shipment events and operating acceptance for new customers, reset carrier-allocation governance and cross-train pivotal gateway work. Establish contribution reviews that expose rework and capacity displacement.

At twelve months, improve on-time departure by 15 percentage points, reduce avoidable rollovers by 35% and cut shipment-exception age by 40%. At least 20% of gateway capacity should be available to diversified business without diminishing agreed anchor service, while customs errors and premium recovery cost both decline materially.

What the sponsor will examine

• Customer differentiation supported by contract or control need.
• Capacity allocated using network consequence.
• New accounts accepted only after operating proof.
• Customs expertise built ahead of segment entry.
• Contribution reflecting rework and displaced capacity.
• Anchor relationships protected through transition.

The person

You bring 28+ years in international freight forwarding or a closely comparable cross-border network, including COO or multi-country operating authority. Your record includes gateway performance, ocean and air capacity, customs, customer transitions, partner operations and a workforce exceeding 1,500.

Candidates must provide evidence of reducing dependence on a major account without creating service loss, and of stopping a launch that was commercially committed but operationally unready. This is a permanent onsite Rotterdam appointment with extensive gateway and customer presence.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is EUR 410,000–590,000 plus annual incentive and long-term participation linked to service, diversified capacity, operating contribution, control and leadership continuity. The permanent onsite Rotterdam COO reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive-committee sponsor. The urgent replacement requires prompt availability for incumbent and customer handover.

Confidentiality

The network, anchor customers, gateways, carrier arrangements, trade lanes, operational economics and succession circumstances remain confidential. Additional information follows conflicts, eligibility and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not approach forwarding companies, carriers, brokers or customers to establish who has commissioned the search.