C.H. Robinson adds to global assets with purchase of European freight forwarder

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn — C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. has acquired Walker Logistics Overseas. Walker is an international freight forwarder headquartered in London.Walker, established in 1977, is a global, fully integrated import and export door-to-door provider specializing in air and ocean freight, warehousing, courier, and logistics solutions. Walker has over 75 employees in five offices throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Phillip Walker and Brett O’Connor, founders, will remain involved with the company through a transition period. Walker employees Steve Buckerfield, managing director of the United Kingdom, Jan Ten Cate, managing director of the Netherlands, and Nick Job, sales director, have significant industry experience and will continue with C.H. Robinson in their existing roles. “We are continuing to invest in C.H. Robinson’s global network to enhance our service offerings to our customers. Walker expands our capabilities in the Asia to Europe trade and strengthens our distribution and gateway capabilities for two key European markets–London and Amsterdam,” said Jeff Scovill, C.H. Robinson vice president. “Walker’s team has extensive knowledge of the local market which will provide strong competitive advantages and benefits to our customers.” C.H. Robinson has over 25 years of experience in transportation and logistics services in Europe. The company has 27 branches and over 380 multilingual employees in Europe, specializing in all parts of global transportation. O’Connor said, “We look forward to combining our expertise with C.H. Robinson’s team. We are now connected to offices around the world and greater technology and resources. This is a win for our customers as much as it is for our loyal staff.” Walker’s customers are primarily in electronics, telecommunications, medicals, sporting goods and military industries. The majority of their revenues are from air and ocean freight. “The people at Walker are incredibly dedicated, have great customer relationships, and fit in well with the Robinson culture. They will be a huge asset to the Robinson team and we are excited to work together,” added Scovill. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.