New Culina Group Company aims to meet demand for integrated perishable supply chain

Culina Fresh Limited is an innovative new door-to-door freight management service which offers high quality multi-modal supply chain capability incorporating road, rail, sea and air transportation for fresh produce, horticulture and other perishable goods. The company has been established to meet demand from producers, importers and retailers for an integrated solution to manage the complete supply chain from source, whatever the country, to final delivery throughout the UK and Europe.

Launched in September as a separate operating business within the Culina Group, Culina Fresh Limited is headed by two highly experienced leaders from the fresh food logistics sector: Managing Director, Thomas van Mourik (current CEO of market-leading Culina Logistics) and Operations Director, Paul Steele, who has 25 years’ freight forwarding experience, the last 15 in the perishable sector.

Many retailers are moving to direct sourcing as part of a strategy to simplify their supply chains and introduce shorter lead times and other efficiencies. Producers and importers are also adapting their supply chains to improve efficiencies in order to meet future challenges.

The business will initially operate from two strategic locations. Facilities at Heathrow Airport in the UK will provide offices and warehousing to co-ordinate air freighting operations. Valencia in Spain has been chosen for its proximity to the region where the company expects to manage significant volumes of fresh produce. The company will also work with carefully selected partners in North America, South America, Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Far East who will provide local support services.

“Producers and importers have been telling me that their existing supply chains are too disjointed and inefficient, and to date no-one has been prepared to take ownership and responsibility for door-to-door freight management,” says Paul Steele. “We’ve identified an exciting gap in the market which we’ll be filling with a high quality service that will address those issues and offer a new benchmark solution for freight management of temperature sensitive goods.”