Time-critical services provider, Courier NetWork (CNW), has opened a new office in Frankfurt, Germany, its first office in Europe.

The company, which only entered the automotive logistics market a few years ago, said growth had been swift because of the increasing trend for vehicle customisation, and the need for tier one and two suppliers to meet just-in-time deadlines; this in the context of an overall significant growth in emergency logistics and shipping around the world.

“Germany is one of 12 central hubs serving the worldwide market for both urgent automotive and semiconductor logistics shipments,” said Ron Glowinsky, vice-president of sales for CNW. “There has been an increase in the need for critical supply chain logistics and CNW wants to be close to its customers as well as at central hubs around the world.”

The Frankfurt office will be headed by Yasar Maras, managing director and general manager of CNW Germany. Maras has over 11 years of experience in the time and mission critical courier industry and moves to CNW from Toll Group where he was manager of time critical solutions in Germany. Prior to that he worked at Gefco in the IJS Global division that handles high and heavy, and pharmaceutical cargo, which Gefco bought in 2015 from private equity firm Nimbus.

“The new office, located at the Frankfurt Airport, is a busy hub for CNW,” said Elazar Grinstein, president of CNW. “As Yasar Maras has a deep understanding of priority courier operational challenges, he will be a great asset to our customers and the international CNW team.”

Courier NetWork already has offices in three locations in China, as well New York, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong and San Jose. It recently added to this number by opening offices in Shanghai, Singapore, San Francisco and Guadalajara, out of which it is providing its Next Flight Out (NFO) express courier and hand-carry onboard courier (OBC) services for the automotive market.

With reference to Guadalajara office, which opened a year ago, over 80% of CNW's business out of there is for the automotive industry said a spokesperson for the company.