Owner change at Hamburg freight forwarder a. hartrodt: Felix Wenzel succeeds Andreas Wenzel as Managing Partner

04 Feb 2021 09:01 Personnel matters

Effective January 1, 2021, Felix Wenzel is the new Managing Partner in the management holding company of the international freight forwarder a. hartrodt. The 34-year-old succeeds in a. hartrodt (GmbH & Co) KG his father Andreas Wenzel, who will retire on July 1, 2021 after 43 years of professional life. As two owner families share regional responsibilities at a. hartrodt, Felix Wenzel will take over Far East, Oceania and Western/Southern Europe. Jan van Tienhoven remains responsible for North and South America as Managing Partner. The country organizations in Germany and Eastern Europe will be headed jointly by both.

Felix Wenzel, a trained Management Assistant for Freight Forwarding and Logistics Services, has acquired in-depth expertise and practical experience during various foreign assignments over the past ten years. He completed his bachelor‘s degree in business management and logistics with honors at the Canterbury Christ Church University in England. Afterwards, he worked for four years at a. hartrodt Australia in Melbourne – first as Operations Manager, later as Sales and Business Development Manager. In July 2018, he joined a. hartrodt in Selangor as Managing Director Malaysia, his last position before returning to Hamburg.

In the fifth generation, Felix Wenzel relies on continuity: „Especially in Corona times, a strong service factor is important. This is where we clearly differentiate ourselves as an international freight forwarder from the carriers.“ Felix Wenzel wants to develop the freight forwarding offer across all modes of transport: „Good solutions for the customer mean that we also suggest alternatives. Towards China and Eastern Europe, this is our rail product, but our trucking division is also growing. We see a trend towards increased land transportation and we want to build on that“. Together with Jan van Tienhoven, Felix Wenzel is pursuing growth targets both within specific regions and cross-regionally. To achieve this, the two Managing Partners want to gradually optimize the procurement and sale of services.

The successful cooperation between Jan van Tienhoven and Andreas Wenzel as joint Managing Partners spans 17 years, and both belong to the fourth generation of business owners. As their greatest success, they consider having survived all economic crises in this millennium so far. Jan van Tienhoven: „We had thought that the Corona year would be a disaster, but in the end we kept the company well alive.“ Andreas Wenzel adds: „We managed to keep and pay all employees in a year of lockdown. All expats stayed in their positions and took care of their team.“

After studying business administration in Japan, Andreas Wenzel founded offices for a. hartrodt in Singapore and Malaysia as well as a joint venture in Thailand. His life‘s achievement is that, as a medium-sized entrepreneur, he has managed to „build a global and very sustainable network of human relationships across all cultures.“

Owner change at Hamburg freight forwarder a. hartrodt

Press contact

Severine Hansske
Phone: +49 40 2390 418
E-Mail: Severine.Hansske@hartrodt.com