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26 Hennessy says.


Issue 2 2014 Freight Business Journal


///IRELAND Seeking out the next generation of talent


Economists expect 2% growth for the Irish economy this year - a move in the right direction but nothing to set the world on fire, according to Ray Hennessy, MD Ireland for DB Schenker. “There’s more optimism now


than at any time in the last six or seven years but people are carrying a high level of personal debt,”


Good


housekeeping may have seen Ireland emerge last December from the EU-IMF bailout programme, but he remains cautious, commenting: “Positive signals in the last six months are maybe an indicator that things have stopped getting worse.” Government policies that


brought such rapid growth through the 1990s were initially good for Ireland, but the apparent boom that preceded the financial collapse in 2008 was fuelled by cheap credit and leſt the country “really exposed,” Hennessy says. From a period of virtually full employment, 14% of the workforce


found themselves out of work almost overnight. Foreign direct investment,


mostly but not exclusively from US multinationals, remains at the heart of Ireland’s future prosperity. Hennessy especially welcomes Regeneron’s announcement in December that it wants to build a biopharma plant at the former Dell site in Limerick, since the mid-west has seen little investment in recent years, with more money going into the Cork and Dublin areas. He points out, however, that


most of the recent investment requires less logistical support than was once case. Google, Facebook and Amazon may be recruiting, but the jobs are in IT and shared service centres that don’t generate many boxes. Higher employment may mean


consumers are out shopping again, but DB Schenker has steered clear of the retail sector in Ireland. “It’s still a depressed and extremely price-sensitive market, and you’re seeing lots of withdrawals from it.


The risks of investing in that area are very high,” Hennessy says. The company today employs


170 people in Ireland, from a low point of 134 in the depth of the crisis. The company focuses on electronics, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and consumer exports including agri-food, soſt drinks and alcohol. Hennessy defines these as clean, high value end markets where customers have more exacting standards. “We increased year on year


even through the difficult times. The life sciences business has come up quietly. Some of the high- profile names in the technology sector have pulled out, but one of the dynamics of the market today is that many supply chain decision makers are based here, regardless of the fact that probably less than 5% of the product ever touches Ireland,” he says. “Someone


based here may


need to deal with a customer whose main trade flow is South America to the Middle East. It’s


a difficult skill set and level of expertise. We need to recruit people with backgrounds


in


finance, project management, process engineering, IT, sales and marketing. “It’s not just about attracting a


‘freight’ person from a competitor,” he adds. “A lot of supply chain solutions


happen outside a


warehouse or factory. It’s about information management, smart reporting. You have to speak the right language, and it’s a real challenge for small indigenous forwarders.” DB Schenker plans to fund


an award at the University of Limerick, which has impressed Hennessy with the relevance to industry of its degree programmes. “We will support


third-year


students with placements which will include time in one of our overseas locations - in effect it will be an eight-month job interview,” he says. Business and accountancy students are more likely to be


drawn towards names they are familiar with, such as Google or Intel, and Hennessy sees it as part of DB Schenker’s mission to increase brand awareness. “We may not have the immediate attraction but it’s something you have to build over time. We’re a good place to work.” The


business


former BAX Global acquired


by DB


Schenker in 2006 was strongest in air freight and the Irish operation still reflects this today, comprising 60% air freight, 20% contract logistics and 15% ocean freight. Hennessy sees road freight, a


strength of the business in Europe, as a sector to be developed -


probably by acquisition rather than by building share organically. “Western


Europe is easier


to service but has got the most ferocious competition,” he says. “The Ireland-UK next business day market is saturated and you risk a price war against established incumbents. We do run to the UK, Netherlands and Germany with our own crews and trailers. But groupage to Scandinavia and countries such as Spain, Poland, Romania and Turkey, with the certainty of transit times and absolute visibility that a group like us can bring, is the biggest opportunity for us.”


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