INTTRA acquires empty-box management leader

INTTRA CEO, John Fay. "Acquiring Avantida advances our strategy of extending our reach into the intermodal value chain"

MARCH 14, 2017 — Industry experts estimate that empty container positioning costs the ocean shipping industry up to $20 billion a year, approximately 40 percent of handling costs.

That could change.

Ocean shipping electronic marketplace INTTRA has acquired Avantida, a European market leader in empty container management for ocean carriers. Avantida’s core business – digitized, automated container reuse and repositioning – addresses a major challenge for ocean carriers, transport companies, terminals, depots, and other stakeholders.

Avantida is headquartered in Belgium and currently conducts business in seven European countries.

INTTRA says its entry into landside container logistics will provide additional value for existing and new customers.

“Avantida, an industry leader in digitized container logistics, has products and customer bases that are highly complementary to those of INTTRA,” said INTTRA’s CEO, John Fay. “Acquiring Avantida advances our strategy of extending our reach into the intermodal value chain, enabling INTTRA to better serve our customers.”

“We are excited to join forces with INTTRA,” said Luc De Clerck, Avantida’s CEO. “Together we can leverage technology innovation to digitize and transform a multi-billion dollar market that is central to global trade. INTTRA’s global network will enable us to accelerate product adoption in Europe and around the world. Our combined offering will further benefit numerous stakeholders within and beyond ocean shipping and container logistics, including reducing CO2 emissions and congestion at ports and surrounding communities.”

Avantida will operate as an INTTRA-owned company and customers should continue to use the same sales and service contacts.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.