Member Article

InterBulk suffer European chemicals slump

Hull-based logistics firm, InterBulk, say waning demand and temporary plant closures across the European chemical industry have impacted revenues.

Revenues were down 6%, from £141.3m in 2012 to just over £132.7m in 2013. The firm had reduced their European workforce and incurred redundancy costs of £0.4m as a result.

InterBulk have managed to grow their businesses in China were they now operate from three offices in Shanghai, Qingdao and Guangzhou.

Koert van Wissen, InterBulk CEO, commented: “We continue to be impacted by delayed economic recovery and although uncertainty remains high, we view the second half of the year with more confidence. We have taken steps to improve efficiency and reduce costs and are pursuing a healthy pipeline of new business opportunities to improve growth.

“The review and update of our strategy has confirmed that we have a robust business model, a strong competitive position, and that intermodal logistics will continue to play an ever more important role in global supply chains. The chemical sector is expected to continue on its long-term growth trend ahead of global GDP, and we believe that our team and global network put us in a strong position to take advantage of these growth opportunities as they arise.

“We believe that the Group will have a stronger second half of the year due to improved utilisation and a healthy pipeline despite global economic uncertainty remaining high.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .