Panalpina acquires Newport Cargo of Argentina

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Atlas Air/Panalpina


Panalpina is continuing to extend its perishables network with the acquisition of Argentinian company, Newport Cargo, based in Buenos Aires.

Newport Cargo was founded in 1978 and exports fish and berries to the US, where the company has a strong customer base and an office in Miami.

Its headquarters are in the centre of Buenos Aires and with offices at Ezeiza International Airport, Newport Cargo handles 24,000 tonnes of airfreight exports per year.

Panalpina traditionally imports high tech and consumer goods into Argentina, and cargo flows from South America northbound can be connected with or integrated in the Panalpina Charter Network with its gateway in Huntsville, Alabama.

Panalpina chief executive officer (CEO), Stefan Karlen says: “Panalpina’s perishables activities originated in Latin America, which is one of the world’s high-production regions for fresh produce. By acquiring Newport Cargo, we are not only gaining control over Argentinian perishables exports, but from neighbouring countries too.

“Fish, fruit, and seeds for example, are trucked from various regions across the border to Argentina and flown out of Buenos Aires. So with this acquisition we are expanding our perishables footprint in an entire region and again strengthening our global end-to-end capabilities for perishables.”

Newport Cargo CEO and majority stakeholder, Roberto Fernandez says: “Over the past forty years we have built very strong relationships with customers and airlines, a very broad perishables expertise and a successful niche business with live animals.

“We can bring this expertise into Panalpina’s global network and benefit from established structures and processes that will upgrade our service offering and enable sustainable growth, also in the future.”

The company’s 42 staff who serve 150 customers, and the 60 employees of Panalpina Argentina will be joined under one roof in Buenos Aires.

Newport is owned by Fernandez, the CFO Jose Gancedo and CCO Federico Calvo, and once the deal is closed, Calvo will join Panalpina and be responsible for the company’s airfreight operations in Argentina, where he will be accompanied by Fernando Loureiro in the perishables business.

Panalpina’s managing director for Argentina and Uruguay, Laurent Riesen says: “Soon our workforce in Argentina will almost double and we are very excited to get the top-notch concentrated perishables and equine knowledge of our new colleagues at Newport Cargo on board.”