Teddy Vandevyvere: “Our Mouscron branch Is Progressing According to Plan”
Teddy Vandevyvere is the director of our branch in Mouscron since the beginning of this year. As a Maghreb specialist, he and his team are driving Transuniverse’s growth ambitions for traffic to and from the region. In addition to Morocco and Tunisia, the team now also covers Algeria.
Transuniverse established the Mouscron branch just over a year ago to centralise all groupage shipments to and from the Maghreb. The branch focuses not only on customers in Belgium, but also on those in northern France and the Netherlands.
The team consists of eight employees. Alongside Teddy, the team includes: Quentin as traffic operations manager; Alizée as the contact point for Tunisia; Alessio for Morocco; Jeanelle as administrative assistant; Jean‑Philippe and Thomas as operational supervisors for the cross-docking area; and Philippe as commercial manager for northern France, working closely with Theo, who operates from Wondelgem.
“Mouscron centralises all flows to and from the Maghreb. This region is one of Transuniverse’s core markets, and by concentrating the cross-docking activities here, we gain efficiency while freeing up capacity in Wondelgem. That was necessary because traffic volumes to and from the region are increasing, partly thanks to the new multifunctional trailers that carry pallets on the outbound trip and hanging garments on the return,” Teddy explains. Each week, around 15 departures are scheduled for Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.
Algeria added to the portfolio
Traffic to Algeria had strongly declined in the past, as trade between Europe and Algeria was hampered by strict import regulations and heavy bureaucracy. In recent years, however, trade has picked up again and demand for transport is rising. “However, shipments from Marseille, traditionally Europe’s main hub for Algeria, are increasingly facing delays due to new import restrictions and trade tensions between Algeria and France. As a result, more and more Belgian and northern French companies are turning to Antwerp. Our team is ideally positioned to support them,” he says.
A phased development plan
“The development of the Mouscron branch is right on schedule,” Teddy continues. “In the first two phases, we strengthened the lines and attracted new customers. We are now moving on to the next steps: organising distribution in northern France from Mouscron and expanding our logistics activities, for which we now have 1,000 pallet spaces available.”
