May 02, 2019: Headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Newport Cargo has legally merged with Panalpina from May 1, 2019. The acquisition was completed in August 2018 and it has added tremendous value to Panalpina's Perishables Network in expertise, customer base and business development. Newport Cargo handles approximately 24,000 tonnes of air freight exports each year.

"I'm very proud of the integration plan and project team. They set ambitious deadlines and met them even for critical topics such as legal requirements, system and connectivity continuity. The most telling outcome of this transition and how effectively it was handled is that we retained all of our business during the transition," noted Laurent Riesen, country managing director for Argentina and Uruguay, Panalpina.

Other key achievements of the transition include setting up of a new office to ensure integration and potential synergies both in the Buenos Aires downtown office and airport office; Miami Perishables LATAM Gateway in Panalpina's network; strengthened business development in Chile and improved cross-selling for dry cargo throughout the network.

Frank Hercksen, Panalpina's regional CEO for the Americas, said, "As we embark on another perishables acquisition and merger in LATAM, I hope the achievements of the teams in Argentina can serve as inspiration for our teams in Colombia and Ecuador."