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Danzas strengthens Ocean services organization in North America

Trade route management team created; sharpened focus on LCL services; company emerges as a leading global ocean forwarder

Darien, CT (July 19, 2001) -- Danzas AEI Intercontinental, the intercontinental business unit of the Danzas Group, is announcing a strengthening of its North American ocean services organization, with an emphasis on trade lane management and the fast-growing field of less-than-containerload (LCL) services.

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Danzas AEI Intercontinental has established four new divisions in North America, three of which are located in the United States and a fourth in Canada. Gale Speanburg is responsible for the U.S. eastern division, Debra Uvelli runs the U.S. central division, Gary Osterbach heads the U.S. western division, and Bill Provan manages ocean services in Canada. They report to Philipp C. Rathgeb, vice president, ocean services. Rathgeb is based at the organization's new ocean headquarters in Newark, NJ.

The new structure establishes three trade route management teams, each of whom are responsible for maintaining and strengthening carrier relationships within their respective trade lanes. The trade route directors are Per Rålamb (trans-Atlantic); Carrie Quinn (trans-Pacific) and Joe Wippel (Latin America).

Danzas AEI Intercontinental has also created a new position dedicated exclusively to its LCL product - as recognition of LCL's increasing importance to the future growth of the ocean services division. Tara Caputo has been named director of LCL services.

Danzas AEI Intercontinental has become the world's leading ocean freight forwarder, annually handling more than 700,000 twenty-equivalent units (TEUs) of ocean freight.

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"With the North American integration of Danzas Intercontinental and the former Air Express International (AEI) behind us, we are now ready to demonstrate to the marketplace our company's compelling logistics value," said Rathgeb. "We have simplified our ocean freight organizational structure while strengthening our management team, adding important services, deepening our relationships with ocean carriers and customers, and increasing our purchasing power for both full-container load and LCL traffic. These are all significant steps forward in building the world's leading one-stop shop for supply-chain management."

"From a transportation perspective, we offer global depth and flexibility which is hard to match by our competition," Rathgeb said. "Our infrastructure is supported by a broad product portfolio that includes customs brokerage, warehousing and distribution, information technology solutions for traditional and e-businesses, project forwarding and value-added services such as duty drawback and trade insurance. While the classic ocean freight business will remain our core competency, we will also leverage our expertise in integrated logistics to help ocean customers reduce costs, sharpen their competitiveness and optimize their processes."

Logistics. Worldwide. With a strong presence on every continent, the Danzas Group the world's leading provider of logistics solutions. Its 43,000 employees worldwide generate net sales of EUR 8.3 billion (USD 7.8 billion, CHF 12.9 billion) in 2000. Danzas is based in Basel, Switzerland, and belongs to the Deutsche Post World Net.

For further information please contact:
Candace Bouchard
Manager Corporate Communications
TL: +203 655 5692
Fax: +203 655 5895
E-mail: exocb@aeilogis.com