Meet the team Mouscron

New Branch for Maghreb and Northern France in Mouscron

 

Last month, Transuniverse opened a new branch in Mouscron dedicated to groupage shipments to and from the Maghreb. This facility specifically serves customers in Belgium and Northern France who send or receive goods to and from Morocco and Tunisia. With this new location, Transuniverse France can also significantly enhance distribution in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.

Due to the growing traffic to Morocco and Tunisia, the transport process needed to be revised. Customs formalities must be handled for both countries, unlike most other European destinations, making transshipment in Wondelgem somewhat cumbersome. As Transuniverse France is also experiencing strong growth in Northern France, the idea emerged to open a dedicated transshipment center in Mouscron.

 

Focus on the Maghreb
Traffic to the Maghreb, from both Transuniverse Belgium and Transuniverse France, continues to grow. The Moroccan economy has recovered well after the COVID-19 pandemic and the Al-Haouz earthquake, and despite the political situation in Tunisia, trade in some niches, such as garment exports, is increasing.

“Mouscron is ideally located to respond to this growth. Shipments from all over Belgium—particularly from West Flanders and Hainaut—as well as from Northern France are consolidated here. From there, full trucks depart for Morocco and Tunisia, with the option to be supplemented in Paris,” Frank Adins explains.

“This not only allows us to organize traffic to the Maghreb more efficiently but also relieves our cross-dock center in Wondelgem,” he adds.

 

Distribution in Northern France
With the new branch in Mouscron, Transuniverse also strengthens its distribution capabilities in Northern France. “Our platform in Paris serves the Île-de-France region, Oise, and neighboring departments, while the Valence platform covers the Rhône-Alpes region and southern France. Thanks to Mouscron, we can better cover the north as well. In Lesquin, near Lille, Transuniverse France has an office with primarily a commercial function. Operationally, we relied on several local carriers for distribution and collection in Northern France,” says Hervé Caplier, head of Transuniverse France.

“With Mouscron, we can now handle these transports in-house, making the process more efficient. This also applies to shipments from Wondelgem intended for customers in Nord-Pas-de-Calais,” he explains.

 

Expansion Opportunities in Logistics
The new location in Mouscron includes a 2,000 m² warehouse with racks for temporary storage and logistics activities, which we plan to expand further. “An important goal of the new branch is to offer Transuniverse’s foreign agents—for example, in Italy or Spain—the opportunity to drop off goods for Northern France and Belgium in Mouscron, so we can efficiently organize distribution from there. The new branch thus plays a key role in the logistics network we aim to develop further,” Frank Adins adds.

The Transuniverse France team from Lesquin now operates from Mouscron. Initially, there are three staff members, but this number will grow rapidly. Our current team consists of transport planner Alessio, warehouse manager Jean-Philippe, and transport officer Alize. In the coming weeks, they will be welcoming several new colleagues.

The office in Lesquin will remain operational, but only as a customs office for French customers.

 

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