FreightHub’s success is based on a search algorithm that gives clients up to 200 different transport options. Clients can simply book containers, ships, lorries, trains or barges for transporting cargo to a destination. The transport can be monitored 24/7 on a dashboard. “We link digital expertise with logistics know-how on the highest level,” said Ferry Heilemann, CEO. During the company’s first year in business, some 350 clients shipped goods with FreightHub’s containers or pallets with general cargo from Asia to Europe. Meanwhile, the reverse route has been added to the company’s offers.
Start-up seeks links to global logistics companies - backing from urban partners in Hamburg
FreightHub was founded in 2016 by Fabian and Ferry Heilemann, Erik Muttersbach and Michael Wax in Berlin. In just a year, their short, fast-paced success saw the workforce expand to 50 staff. And in May, the logistics start-up opened a branch in Hamburg-Altona close to major players in the sector. “Our first branch outside of Berlin, which opened in Hamburg in May, means we are located at the heart of the German logistics sector. The paths to the digital world are short and we have now optimised those in the real world,” said Ferry Heilemann. FreightHub has hired eight new staff in Hamburg to ensure business goes smoothly.
Exports from Europe to Asia
Strategic partnership with Hamburg Süd
According to the Hamburger Logistik Initiative, around 11,700 firms with around 395,000 employees in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region work in the sector. “Many firms in the logistics sector have contacted FreightHub which is already leading to successful partnerships,” said Wax, co-founder and CCO. Most established companies are open to digitalisation and the exchange is very profitable for all those involved. FreightHub has already forged close co-operations with leading carriers such as a strategic partnership with Hamburg Süd, customs’ authorities and transport insurers in addition to collaborations in China and India.
Logistik-Initiative – basis of a fruitful ecosystem for start-up
The founders received start-up support from Berlin and the Hamburg Business Development Corporation (HWF) helped find an office in Hamburg. The company also received assistance from the Logistik-Initiative Hamburg, Wax stressed. “The work of the Logistik-Initiative creates the basis for an extremely productive ecosystem for start-ups in Hamburg. As a Berlin-based logistics start-up with a branch in Hamburg, the initiative’s focus on the digital hub is particularly important to Freight Hub. This holds many promising opportunities for fledgling companies to exchange with established players on the market,” he added.
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