"What we can do, not everyone can!"
Interview with Wim De Windt, CEO Gadot Europe of Gadot Belgium BV
With direct access to the North Sea and the hinterland, North Sea Port Gent is an important logistics hub in Europe. Here, Gadot Belgium BV is based and, together with locations in Germany, offers services and products for the chemical industry. In Germany, the focus is on supply chain management and warehousing, while the large site in the port of Gent also has capacities for manufacturing and storing a variety of products for the sector.
Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. De Windt, what can customers expect from Gadot Belgium? What does the portfolio look like?
Wim De Windt: In North Sea Port Gent, we have an area of 23 hectares. From there, we have access to the North Sea, but also to canals and rivers inland. Distribution, trade, and storage of products is one of our businesses. We buy products from the ships, which we then partly package and offer in the market. This is a typical activity: purchase, distribution, and resale. These activities are primarily for products for the oil, gas, and mining industries. For example, we supply these industries with lubricants for drilling activities. Another pillar in Gent is storage. Here we offer our customers capacities
for storing biofuels and chemicals. Furthermore, we offer comprehensive services related to the stored products. These can include samples for quality control, customs processing, or logistical services. We can send the stored products by ship or truck to their destination. Between 70 and 80 trucks are loaded and unloaded at our facility daily. The third pillar is our expertise as a Contract Manufacturing Partner. Here, we mix various basic materials according to our clients' specifications or for our own products. We also have suitable reactors for chemical processes. This results in semi-finished or finished products, in many cases, they are chemical additives that are added to fuels. We manufacture between 150,000 and 200,000 tons of such products per year. for large multinationals – custom orders or from stock. Especially in recent years, we have invested heavily in facilities and processes.
Wirtschaftsforum: And who are your customers?
Wim De Windt: Our clients are major players from the energy sector, lubricant manufacturers, and trading companies. But there are also companies from the food, paper, and metal industries. Overall, we have several hundred clients. So far, our clients have predominantly been from Europe, the USA, and Africa. We are looking at South America as a new market.
Wirtschaftsforum: Why do you think customers choose to work with Gadot Europe?
Wim De Windt: What we can do, not everyone can. Our location is multimodal. We have a total tank volume of 100,000 m3 spread across many different tanks. We are also extremely customer- and service-oriented and have the necessary ISO certifications. We are absolutely competitive with our pricing, and we place great value on good and long-lasting relationships with our clients.
Wirtschaftsforum: Please tell us about the history of Gadot Belgium and the current structures.
Wim De Windt: The company was founded in 1960 by the oil conglomerate Chevron. In the 1990s, they sold parts of the company, including our current site. The site and its facilities were then used by various service providers in chemical logistics. In 2010, Gadot took over, and in the same year, we started with Supply Chain Management and Warehousing, also marking the beginning of logistics activities in Germany. In 2019, there was a rebranding and since then, Gadot Belgium has been operating as part of the Gadot Group, a leading global player in chemical value chain management. In Ghent, where we work in a three-shift system, we employ 140 staff along with 30 additional temporary agency workers. 100 employees are at our four German locations in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Mannheim, and Wiesbaden. Our revenue is 150 million EUR.
Wirtschaftsforum: What do your sales and marketing activities look like?
Wim De Windt: We have Sales & Business Development teams that visit our clients and organize events and conferences. We are also present at events like the EPCI in Berlin and use social media.
Wirtschaftsforum: How digital is Gadot Belgium?
Wim De Windt: In production, we rely on data. IoT and our Terminal Management System are compatible with SAP. We document our CO2 emissions using the Science-Based Target Index. In the future, we want to use even more AI.
Wirtschaftsforum: And what about sustainability?
Wim De Windt: At our site, we use wind power and biomass. We have already reduced our CO2 emissions by 70%.
Wirtschaftsforum: What are your goals for the coming years?
Wim De Windt: We aim to grow organically and through acquisitions. We are also looking for joint venture partners for projects related to storage and multimodality. We are seeking new customers and want to expand our infrastructure for renewable energies as well.