Portier is the name of a family-owned industrial company with origins dating back to 1937 when Louis Cop founded a road construction company. In the 1960s the founder’s son Joseph Cop and son-in-law Gustave Portier took over and greatly expanded the business.
In 1992 the company was split between the eleven children of the owners, and Group Portier was formed with activities in construction, logistics and intermodal transport.
“In 2013 I took over the group together with my brothers Pierre and Paul,” says Managing Director Philippe Portier, “Last year I took over the logistics division and parted with my brothers.”
Headquartered in Flémalle near Liège, Renory has a staff of 50 and generates turnover of 13 million EUR. The company is strategically located near its namesake, the Renory harbour of the river Meuse and the container terminal. Thus Renory has a direct connection to the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam and access to the European waterways, roads and railways.
“As a logistics service provider, we handle, store and transport all types of goods,” explains Mr. Portier. “At present, we are active in four business units.”
The first and most important unit is steel, accounting for 40% of turnover. Renory has been active for the steel industry for a long time now, mainly for customers like ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel and the Russian NLMK Group.
“For ArcelorMittal we organize the transport of raw materials to the production sites as well as the transport of finished products to the end users,” states Mr. Portier. “We don’t have our own trucks, but we have the lifting equipment for moving the goods to the means of transport. We also offer storage services. However, these are services without added value, and we prefer to focus on services with added value such as our ability to organize transport via all media. We organize road transport by truck, rail transport and transport by ship. Moreover, we offer transport in containers. We can easily bring the goods to the container terminal for transport by ship.”
Loading, picking, packing and distribution of all types of goods is the second business unit with 40% of activities. Renory provides logistics services for the most demanding products in Europe and abroad.
“For example, a customer in Boston wants to ship a pallet with wood, food products or wine to Madagascar,” says the Managing Director. “We organize the shipment with emphasis on an excellent price/performance ratio and, even more important, the strict adherence to the schedule.“
Quarries and quarry products are the third business unit, accounting for 10% of activities. “Typically, quarry products are more than simply stones; they are valuable products,” underlines Mr. Portier. “We organize the transport from the silo. We bag the products in big bags, put them on pallets and into containers which are shipped to their destination, some of them as far away as Chile. Recycling is part of this business unit. We have all the certifications required for reliably organizing the transport of different types of waste for recycling.”
The remaining 10% is personnel services. “Our employees work at the customers’ site. We have four customers and a staff of ten who assist customers at peak times in all logistics tasks. At present Renory has been independent for just a few months. We want to expand the business and the scope of services in the future with a focus on a market with definite growth potential, container transport.”
