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GOOD to the LAST DROP
GOOD to the LAST DROP
How JF Hillebrand Group capitalised on the growth of Australia and New Zealand’s alcohol industries Written by Adam Turner Produced by Erika Kracer
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ounded in Germany in 1844, servicing freight barges along the Rhine, today JF Hillebrand has a presence in every major beer, wine, and spirits market – both production and consumption – around the globe. With its headquarters in Mainz, Germany, the business has more than 58 offices around the world with a workforce of more than 2,500. Locally, JF Hillebrand has offices in Sydney, Adelaide and Auckland. Australia and New Zealand are known around the world more for their wines than beers or spirits, with 80 percent of JF Hillebrand’s local business focused on exports and only 20 percent on imports. JF Hillebrand deals with more than 500 customers throughout Australia and New Zealand, amongst which large clients are industry stalwarts such as Treasury Wine Estates (responsible for Penfolds and Wolf Blass amongst other brands), Accolade Wines (Hardys), Pernod Ricard Winemakers (Jacobs Creek), and Casella Wines (Yellowtail). While these customers each ship several thousand containers each quarter, JF Hillebrand also caters to smaller producers who may ship as little as a single case of wine each year. The United Kingdom is Australia’s largest
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export destination by volume accounting for 32 percent of all litres exported. Interestingly, while China only represents 12 percent of litres exported, it has just become their number one market by value and continues to grow. The UK market is heavily influenced by the major supermarket chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, and Waitrose, with more than three quarters of this wine shipped in bulk and then bottled in the UK. Bulk wine travels across the globe by sea in 24,000-litre flexitanks fitted inside
standard 20 foot shipping containers. “Shipping wine overseas in bulk can offer advantages compared to finished bottled product both financially and environmentally while preserving the quality of the wine. Indeed the quality of wine arriving overseas in flexitanks is no different to that bottled in Australia, due to the wine being less affected by temperature shifts experienced when crossing the equator en route to the Northern Hemisphere,” says Michael Frogbrook, Managing Director for JF Hillebrand Australia.
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Given the evolution over the last decade of the major global wine markets to ship in bulk and bottle at destination, in 2007 the JF Hillebrand Group had the foresight to purchase Trans Ocean Distribution (TOD), the market leader in flexitank production and technology. This acquisition included three factories in China, Malaysia, and South Africa as well as a dedicated R&D
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team who continue to develop and enhance the flexitank product including tailoring specific bespoke solutions for individual customers. Shipping lines were initially hesitant at the concept of fitting flexitanks inside standard containers, as early efforts would cause containers to bulge – making it difficult to slot them amongst other containers on a ship. Containers equipped with
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flexitanks also need to be handled with care, especially on trains and trucks, due to the forces at play when moving such vast amounts of liquid in a single container. However having an in-house manufacturing base for flexitanks (and other industry related products) placed JF Hillebrand Group in a unique position of being in full control of design, quality and performance of the flexitank - and the technological advances made have now virtually eliminated these concerns. As with many technologies there are numerous options available but due to a number of incidents with bulking tanks leaking on ships and wharves, most reputable shipping lines now refuse to carry flexitanks if they haven’t been approved by an independent body – the Container Owners Association (COA). JF Hillebrand Group is one of only two approved suppliers. In some countries the import duty on bulk wine is lower than bottled wine, giving JF Hillebrand another economic advantage, plus bottling at the destination helps create local
Michael Frogbrook
Managing Director of JF Hillebrand Australia
“The carbon footprint of a bottle of New Zealand wine on a UK supermarket shelf
WAS MUCH LOWER than the footprint of a bottle of French wine on the same UK supermarket shelf”
– MichaelFrogbrook, Managing Director of JF Hillebrand Australia
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jobs. The use of flexitanks also allows Australian wines to significantly lower their carbon footprint from the vineyard to the shelf, which is important in the UK market where many retailers include carbon footprint information on product labels. “This was highlighted a few years ago at a major wine show where the carbon footprint of a bottle of New Zealand wine on a UK supermarket
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shelf was much lower than the footprint of a bottle of French wine on the same UK supermarket shelf,” Frogbrook says. “To put that in perspective, Auckland is over 12,000 miles away from London while Paris is only 200 miles away – the carbon footprint per litre when shipping wine in bulk across the world is tiny.” Bearing in mind that depending on the style of the wine and its region of
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origin it might have to be bottled in the region of production, meaning that it cannot be transported in flexitank. JF Hillebrand offers a multitude of valued added services to the beer, wine and spirits industry such as transport management, information management, cargo care & safety, integrated logistics solutions, and customs brokerage. Underpinned by a bespoke
operating system (used by all JF Hillebrand offices globally) developed in-house by their own dedicated IT division, it is totally customised for the industry. The company offers customers free access to its various logistics software products covering sales, operations, finance and supply chain management, including a real time order tracking tool. Additionally the company creates interfaces
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Proud Partners to J.F. Hillebrand Australia
The "Complete Service" is our core. It is who we are and what we specialise in.
ASP Logistics is a company dedicated to providing quality service to its clients and ensuring that specific needs are consistently met. Our highly trained staff treat every job as a project and take personal control of all aspects that are associated.
www.asplogistics.com
+61 8 8260 2288
Success is always uplifting! JF Hillebrand is not just your beverage forwarder. With its wide range of import and export supply chain facilities (including inland freight management; warehousing and specialised services) JFH is helping to drive the industry forward in every way. Another great brand is Hamburg Süd. With our high-tech equipment, sensitive cargo care capabilities, global services network and frequent, reliable schedules we’re one of JF Hillebrand’s principal partners. Hamburg Süd – fine wine’s favourite line. No matter what. www.hamburgsud-line.com
Joe Marsili
Arthur Theodos
Commercial Director Australia
Financial Controller for Oceania
“Indeed the quality of wine arriving overseas in flexitanks
IS NO DIFFERENT TO THAT BOTTLED IN AUSTRALIA, due
to the wine being less affected by temperature shifts experienced when crossing the equator en route to the Northern Hemisphere”
into customer ERP systems which eliminates a lot of manual data transactions between both parties reducing errors, saving time and generally increasing efficiency. “In a more a more competitive environment, our clients need integrated logistics solutions enabling them to better anticipate and control the efficiency and global costs of their supply chain in the long term.”
– Michael Frogbrook, Managing Director of JF Hillebrand Australia
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Level 4, Bayside Tower, 376 Bay Street, Brighton-Le-Sands, New South Wales, Australia, 2216 Tel. 02 9556 4900 Fax. 02 9556 4999 sydney@hillebrandgroup.com www.jfhillebrand.com/australia