Brambles takes over Unitpool

Brambles Ltd has acquired 100 percent of the shares of Unitpool, the airline container pooling company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Brambles is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and has annual sales revenue of more than US$4 billion. It is a provider of supply chain and information management solutions, with operations in 47 countries.

Brambles subsidiary CHEP, best known for its blue pallets, is a provider of pallet and container pooling services. CHEP delivers, collects, repairs and reissues approximately 300 million pallets and containers annually through a global network of more than 600 service centres.

Unitpool owns and manages for its 20+ airline customers a pooled inventory of more than 33,000 unit load devices (ULDs), from which it ensures that these airlines have containers and pallets for their baggage and cargo on hand, when and where they need them.

For Brambles, entering the ULD pooling segment brings the opportunity of moving into a sizeable and growing market with very few service providers, where it can leverage its 40 years’ experience in asset pooling.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)