Peter Stuurman (1950) has now been active in the international world of transport and logistics for 55 years. A perfect moment to reflect on the career of this veteran in the industry—a journey that included emigration to Austria and extensive operations in the Middle East. In recent years, he has mainly focused on the financial side of 4Mex Logistics, which specialises in organising refrigerated transport, particularly from France to other EU countries. He continues this work a few days a week, leaving him time to enjoy the golf course.
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Hauling bales
After completing secondary school and military service, Peter began working in 1970 at his uncle Ab Boontjes Stuwadoorsbedrijf, Deltapoort, located at the first Eemhaven (Bunschotenweg, Rotterdam). In those years, he performed virtually all common duties—handling bales, driving forklifts, piloting, tallying, and more—before moving into the office to learn the administrative side of the business. At that time, the logistics activities also started expanding.
Expeditiebedrijf Deltapoort was established, and offices were rented in the Zuidplein commercial building. During this time, they also acquired Transportbedrijf van der Ent from Rhoon, which offered various groupage line services and expanded container trucking. "Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt in 1975," Peter recalls.
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4Mex Logistics office
A new limited company was then founded under the name Stubo Shipping, with Peter Stuurman and Gerard Boontjes as shareholders. Operations focused on ferry transport to England and a container depot at the Spoormaker site in Waalhaven. "This turned out not to be profitable enough, so I left the company and in 1976 started working as a freight forwarder at F.W. Koudijs Scheepvaart- en Expeditiebedrijf, located on Goudsesingel in Rotterdam. In the early years, we handled a lot of ferry transport to England using refrigerated, frozen, and covered trailers, as well as road transport to and from Turkey."
Emigration to Austria
"This eventually led, in 1979, to cooperation with our partner in Istanbul—Mr Ali D. Akel of AK Nakliyat—and I established a new office in Salzburg (Austria) under the name Koudijs-Akel Ges.m.b.H. For that, I emigrated to Austria. Once the office was up and running and staff were hired, I returned to the Rotterdam office in the late 1980s. There, new relationships were built with major exporters to the Middle East, and I began organising transport to countries like Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. We regularly chartered vehicles in both directions and reloaded them in Istanbul, Bulgaria, and Romania."
"In 1987, Van Dongen Transport from Dirksland crossed my path. After years of working on the Delta Works and similar projects, they wanted to go international with part of their fleet. It was a difficult beginning. Even after Adrie van Dongen, together with Adrie Visbeen, tried to boost the company under the name Visbeen-Van Dongen, things didn't really improve. So in 1988, we mutually agreed that I would leave. The eventual positive outcome for both companies is well known."
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View from the office
US Army Supplies
"I continued my career in the autumn of 1988 at Transneerlandia Koeltransport Bodegraven, which handled refrigerated and frozen transport across Europe. This included hanging of frozen meat, ship stores for nearly all provisioning companies in Rotterdam, and supplies for various ships in European ports. We also delivered dairy products from the Netherlands to the U.S. Army in Germany and to naval vessels docking in southern Europe. As a result, many refrigerated trucks arrived in France and needed to be reloaded."
"This is where the real story began for me," Peter continues. "At the end of 1992, I thought: I can do this on my own. That's when my wife and I started Stuurman Chartering BV, a chartering office specialising in return loads for refrigerated trucks that arrived empty in France and Spain. Initially, we worked from a small office in Capelle aan den IJssel, later moving to two company-owned premises in Krimpen aan den IJssel. We sold this company in January 2005 through a management buy-out, after which the name was changed to Stuurman Logistics."
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Dennis van den Kieboom and Karel Lukassen
Five years of radio silence
"After five years of radio silence, I resumed some freelance work in 2010 for sales at Neele Transport and FTF-Ibavi, among others, as well as assisting Van Dongen Westland with their plant export shipments to France. In autumn 2014, I became director of the newly established 4Mex Logistics in Moerdijk, a company I took over from the previous owner in July 2015. We later relocated the business to my hometown, Krimpen aan den IJssel, where it has now been based for ten years in a modern shared office building in the industrial estate along the IJssel River."
Peter and Bas Stuurman, Karel Lukassen, Dennis van den Kieboom and Geoffey Ooms
Peter highlights his appreciation for the team of highly experienced employees, most of whom have since become co-shareholders. 4Mex Logistics is involved in coordinating refrigerated and frozen transport to France, but especially focuses on organising return loads for empty refrigerated and frozen vehicles from France back to the Benelux and Germany. "We can offer several loads daily, especially from departments 22, 29, 35, 56 (Brittany), and 44, 85, 79, 17, 16, 24, and 47."
"In winter, we are busy organising transport for cauliflower from Brittany, and in spring for lettuce from the Nantes region. We now understand the seasonal patterns like the back of our hand and can often anticipate demand in advance. Our experience allows us to keep going where others stop."
For more information:
4Mex Logistics
Tel: +31 85 48 77 960
[email protected]
www.4mexlogistics.nl
