Lidl launches its own shipping line
German supermarket giant Lidl has launched its own shipping line to help reduce delays and ease transport costs amid the ongoing supply chain crisis.
The retailer has registered the Tailwind Shipping Lines trademark at the European Union Intellectual Property Office, and aims to put its own ships into service by the middle of 2023, according to German media reports.
The Tailwind brand will be used for purposes including cargo ship transportation, delivery of goods and freight forwarding.
“The goal is to be able to manage the increased volume of different production facilities more flexibly in the long term,” Wolf Tiedemann, who heads up logistics operations for Lidl, tells German transport publication VerkehrsRundschau. The title speculates this could be aimed at ‘not only wanting to have more influence on the logistical processes, but also wanting to create more leeway with regard to pricing.’
Tiedemann adds that Lidl will continue to work with its current shipping partners, but wants to become more independent. Reports claim that Lidl unsuccessfully attempted to invest in an existing shipping operation in 2021.
Lidl, which belongs to the Schwarz Group, has 12,900 branches in 33 countries and has recently entered the US market.
It’s not the first retailer to take control over its shipping: large companies including Ikea, Starbucks, Walmart and Costco have all opted to start chartering their own ships to navigate the supply chain crisis, although none have gone as far as setting up their own shipping line.
