4/2009 - Dachser GmbH und Co. KG

Transporting
herbs to the USA
The recipe is a well-guarded secret, the taste,
on the other hand, is on everybody’s lips. Ricola
herb lozenges find their way from Switzerland
to the US thanks to Dachser Air & Sea Logistics.
>> Madonna does it. Mariah Carey,
Robbie Williams and Justin Timberlake do
it: just before going on stage, they dip into a
little box and pop a herb lozenge into their
mouth – a refreshing ritual where the pop
icons turn to Swiss medicinal herbs from
Ricola.
Switzerland is known around the world for
its herb drops, pastilles, teas and chewing
gums, which are exported to more than 50
countries in Europe and Asia, as well as to the
US, from Ricola’s headquarters in Laufen in
the canton of Basle. The Americans are particularly
partial to the sweets, whose recipe –
a blend of 13 different herbs – has been a
Herbal
competence
Ricola has been a family-owned
business since its foundation by
Emil Richterich in 1930. Today,
the reins of the family company
are held in the third generation by
Felix Richterich as president of
the administrative board. Since
early 2004, operational business
has been in the hands of Adrian
Kohler as CEO.
Incidentally, the name Ricola is an
acronym for the original company
name Richterich & Co.,
Laufen.
www.ricola.ch
strictly guarded secret for almost 70 years.
Meanwhile, over 4,000 tonnes of Ricola
products find their way from Laufen to destinations
overseas. “In the US, Ricola has
in the meantime become a leading candy
brand,” explains Jochen Layer, planning and
processes division manager at Ricola.
To ensure pop stars as well as consumers of
all ages in the US never have to be without
their favourite cult-status herbal candies,
Ricola from the beginning of this year entrusted
its transport operations to Dachser.
In total, Ricola ships around 600 TEUs to
the United States each year. As one of the
company’s logistics partners, Dachser Air &
Sea Logistics ensures efficient handling of
customs formalities in addition to straightforward
transport. “It is a huge success for us
to be able to count a company as well known
as Ricola among our customers,” enthuses
Andreas Ott, national sales manager at
Dachser in Reinach near Basle, Switzerland.
The Air & Sea Logistics office in Reinach is
the youngest of the seven Swiss branches.
“Ricola is one of Switzerland’s top exporters
to the US. Following our office relocation,
we have been able to continue the successful
development in Basle.” Dachser, Jochen
Layer points out, got it right in terms of price
and performance. “The company is also
certified in key areas, such as compliance with
the International Food Standard (IFS).”
Competence: Air & Sea Logistics
Herbs grown in Swiss
meadows are enjoyed
all over the world
Dachser forwards eight to ten containers a
week from the lozenge factory in Laufen to
the main railway station in Basle. The journey
continues by rail to Bremerhaven – from
where the sweet cargo is transported by sea to
New York. Overland shipment time for the
containers is between 24 and 48 hours; plus
another nine to ten days for the journey by
sea. It takes twelve days at the most for the
candies to reach the US. But financial considerations
alone are not the only reasons why
transport is effected by rail and sea:
As a company in touch with nature, Ricola
sets great store by the excellent quality of the
ingredients used in its products. For example,
it only uses herbs grown under controlled,
environmentally compatible conditions. So
it stands to reason that environmentally compatible
transport should also be part of the
corporate culture. Dachser’s environmental
standards, which as a matter of principle
oblige the company to ecological and sustainable
action, are fully in tune with this
philosophy. K. Fink
DACHSER magazine 19