History

The story of DFDS Wijchen begins in 1970. It was in 1970 that Frans Huisman started a courier service between Venray and Nijmegen. His first steps in logistics turned out to be a success. Huisman’s activities came to the attention of German forwarding agents who used his services for goods transport to Great Britain.

A leader in efficiency

In the early 1980s, Huisman focused his logistics services fully on Great Britain. His understanding of the market and the needs of his clients, resulted in Huisman being the first carrier to also take on freight for the return trip. The result: no more empty trailers but instead a very efficient and very cost-competitive round trip.

Further professionalization

In 1991, Huisman took another step in the professionalization of the company. He decided to add a skilled management team to the organisation. As a result, Huisman became one of the first mid-sized logistics service providers with a solid financial department and controller. From then on, subsequent calculation was given a great deal of attention in order to monitor and ensure an appropriate return on capital.

Insight via technology

At the same time, Huisman also realised that the modern communication tools then being developed had a great deal of value to offer. What originally started with the introduction of telephones in the trucks has now grown to include sign-on-glass technology, easily accessible IT systems, and user-friendly web portals. Clients are gaining more and more control of their logistics processes.

A new chapter as DFDS Wijchen

In 2020, DFDS acquires Huisman Group. The transaction gives DFDS critical mass in its part-load transport business between the European continent and the UK. It will be managed from Huisman’s current headquarters in Wijchen in the Netherlands. DFDS intends to grow the business and expand services to new markets.

Growth

The current director business development of DFDS Wijchen, John Scholten, was already in the picture in the early 1990s. In 2000, John became co-owner in order to back up the already solid client portfolio and ensure further growth for the company. This marked the start of a period of growth, and three years later, Huisman Group was completely owned by John.

John’s mission

John’s mission was and still is to further strengthen the position of DFDS Wijchen in all of Great Britain and Ireland. A warehouse was an indispensable element of such a strategy. In 1995, a first warehouse was established in the London Area in cooperation with another company. That succeeded so well that Huisman decided, three years later, to open a fully owned warehouse in Corby (the Midlands).

Operational satellite

In 2003, after operating for five years in Corby, Huisman had a new building constructed there, the present facility. Corby still serves as the operational satellite of Huisman’s warehouse in Wijchen. In spite of the global crisis that broke out in 2008, Huisman survived the crisis years quite well thanks to its enormous diversity and large number of clients.

Our rich history