Rene retires from ALS

12th December 2023

Group Managing Director - René van de Vin has announced his retirement after a 41-year career in freight. He feels that the time is right now to embark on the next chapter of his life and enjoy time with his family.

CAREER SNAPSHOT

• It all started back in June 1982 when René started working for his father’s Freight Forwarding company based in The Netherlands which specialised in transport to Middle East (Iran, Iraq, but also Saudi Arabia and Pakistan). Whilst here he prepared transport documents and loaded and unloaded the trucks. Later he organised the transports, quoting customers and negotiating rates with suppliers.

• René started his own company on the 1st August 1988 with KEPO as his first major client.

In the early 90’s the company organised their first transport of Komatsu machines (D65 Bulldozer to Prague), and in the mid 90’s the company was introduced by Komatsu to ALS UK Ltd.

• In April 1996, a contract was signed with Hyundai Heavy Industries Europe for in-house operations and distribution of machines and parts throughout Europe. The 1st January 2000 saw the company merge with ALS UK Ltd on a 50/50 basis and in March 2000 a contract signed with Komatsu Group (UK, DE, IT and BE) for distribution of EU produced machines.

• In 2008 René acquired 100% ownership of the ALS Group. A year later a deal was struck with P. Schwandner Transport with a 50% shares ownership of ALS.

• In 2012 Wallenius WiIlhelmsen acquired a 60% of ALS Shares (30% from Schwandner, 30% from ALS)

• 2022 saw Wallenius WiIlhelmsen acquire the remaining 40%.

René remains in his current role until 1^st December and in full-time advisory capacity until the end of 2023.

Christian Holth – SVP commented “As a company we would like to thank René for his entrepreneurial spirit, value-creation and customer-centric mindset throughout the ALS journey.

Not only has ALS been a “family business” in the best spirit of these words, but a company which has created value for customers, shareholders, and employees. We are all committed to carry the legacy forward and continue to bring new solutions to the market for the benefit of our customers together with our partners.

From the ALS family, we will miss you. Your leadership and guidance have been invaluable to us and, we hope you will pop in to see us from time to time. We are proud to continue to build on the ALS legacy you have left."

The leadership team are delighted to welcome Faheem Hoosen to head up the group. He started his career as an Engineering Graduate Trainee with Toyota South Africa and has been with Wallenius Wilhelmsen for 16 years, 13 of which were spent in various positions in South Africa and the last 3 as General Manager for Solutions Middle East.

In both South Africa and Middle East, Faheem gained significant experience working with Japanese Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and in intersection between technical services and supply chain management.

Faheem and team are looking forward to working closely with customers, partners, and the broader stakeholder base to deliver ALS products and services.

Key contacts at ALS remain unchanged, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.