Willem van der Schalk hands over as Managing Director

16 Mar 2021 11:43 Personnel matters

Thorsten Drunagel and Hendrik Khezri will head a. hartrodt Germany in the future.

Willem van der Schalk will hand over his duties as Managing Director at the Hamburg-based freight forwarder a. hartrodt Germany to his successors on March 31, 2021. However, the 65-year-old will remain associated with the family-owned company, for which he worked for 43 years, in an advisory capacity until further notice. On April 1, the management of the operating business in Germany will pass to two experienced top managers of a. hartrodt: Thorsten Drunagel has been Managing Director in Hamburg since 2019 and will continue to be responsible for sea freight and land transport. Hendrik Khezri, who became Managing Director in 2013, will continue to be responsible from Frankfurt for air freight and sales.

Since the year 2000, van der Schalk has headed the core company a. hartrodt Germany with 406 employees in Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover, Munich, Nuremberg, Saarbruecken, Stuttgart and Wuppertal. In addition, he was responsible for Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the Indian subcontinent. These responsibilities will be
organizationally decoupled. Since January 1, 2021, Sebastian Endt, who has been with the company since his freight forwarding apprenticeship, is in charge of the Eastern Europe region as Regional Managing Director in Prague. This includes 140 employees in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Russia.

The business in Scandinavia, with a. hartrodt‘s own offices in Denmark and Sweden, will be continued by van der Schalk as a consultant in the future. The owners of the freight forwarding company also rely on his experience and network in India and neighboring countries, including the Gulf region. Therefore, after leaving the company, van der Schalk will also manage the Indian national company with 90 employees at five locations as a Senior Advisor. „As far as my health permits, I will be available for three to five years,“. Van der Schalk set the course for his international career with an apprenticeship as a wholesale and foreign trade merchant in Rotterdam and then at a. hartrodt in Hamburg with his dual studies as Management Assistant for Freight Forwarding/Business Administration. He soon assumed management positions, initially as General Manager Airfreight in Stuttgart. After that, he spent 15 years as Managing Director at a. hartrodt (Belgium) in Antwerp before returning to Hamburg as Managing Director for Germany. As important successes, he considers that he has „clearly positioned“ the medium-sized company and „united the two business areas of air and sea freight as an integrated whole“.

Through his voluntary work, van der Schalk has also become the face of a. hartrodt. He will continue to hold numerous honorary offices in the future. He remains President of Clecat, the European Association for Forwarding, Transport, Logistics and Customs Services in Brussels (Belgium), Spokesperson of the Committee of German Seaport Forwarders (KDS) in the German Freight Forwarding and Logistics Association (DSLV) and Vice President of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.

Willem van der Schalk hands over as Managing Director

Press contact

Severine Hansske
Phone: +49 40 2390 418
e-mail: Severine.Hansske@hartrodt.com