Cargo-Partner and Nippon Express are combining their road transport activities in Europe with the aim of creating an integrated, pan-European road transport network. By pooling regional strengths and establishing flexible groupage, LTL, and FTL solutions, they aim to meet the increased customer demand, it is stated.
Utilizing Synergies
Under the project name "One Road," the strengths of Cargo-Partner in Central and Eastern Europe are to be combined with the presence of Nippon Express (NX) in Western Europe, according to company information. The new network offers flexible solutions for groupage, LTL, and FTL depending on customer requirements.
"With this integration, we are leveraging the synergies of both networks to establish a robust operational
base. This strengthens both our organic growth and our market position," said Thomas Schledorn, Chief Operating Officer Overland at Cargo-Partner, who is also responsible for the entire road transport product within NX in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The Cargo-Partner network in Central and Eastern Europe is intended to offer customers shorter transit times and reliable service quality – with regional hubs like in Vienna, Żory, Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Sofia, as well as national locations in every country. In Western Europe, distribution is carried out via Nippon Express' hubs.
Existing Services
In Italy, the services of the two cooperation partners have already been fully integrated. Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United
Kingdom are to follow, to further expand the offering. To deepen the collaboration, a "Road Community" is being established, in which all participating countries and regions are represented.
The Italy-Central Europe corridor offers daily groupage services between Austria and Italy. Since September 2024, a regular service connects the NX hub in Lainate (Milan) with Cargo-Partner locations in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bulgaria.
Since November 2024, there have been daily connections in both directions between Lainate and Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Western Romania, and Northern Macedonia – via the central hub of Cargo-Partner in Vienna. Since February 2025, direct linehaul services have also been offered between key Cargo-Partner hubs in Poland and
several NX locations in Italy.
Unified Road Network
"The project 'One Road' represents our shared vision: a unified, efficient, and flexible pan-European road network," said Thomas Schledorn.
According to him, it is also an important step to connect Central and Eastern Europe with Western European markets and create a seamless logistics landscape for customers.
The main goal of the cooperation, according to the partners, is to handle transport services internally where Cargo-Partner or Nippon Express have their own infrastructure. This way, more services can be controlled directly.
Cargo-Partner plans to continuously expand capacities, further develop the network, and close existing gaps. In this process, primarily their own resources are to be used,
