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In our popular podcast series, cargo.one Founder & Co-CEO Moritz Claussen hosts candid chats with visionaries from all across the logistics world, uncovering their formative experiences and most valuable advice. Subscribe today!
cargo.one:one continues with dynamic insights from a young and progressive leader operating at the forefront of modern air logistics – Chris Bode, VP of Global Air freight at Rhenus Logistics. With extensive business experience and expertise across multiple modes, Chris oversees Rhenus’ air freight offerings globally.
While completing his Bachelor’s degree in International Management & Economics, Chris first joined Rhenus as a degree intern and gained valuable exposure and responsibility across multiple departments in the company. He began with road freight and steadily gained experience all over the world, including fascinating stints leading cross-border trucking in South East Asia.
Chris learnt a great deal from road transportation including how solutions were often “really dependent on partners, on alliances, on networks”. Chris cites a shipment between Poland and Spain that transited six different hubs en route from shipper to consignee. He gained huge respect for the many local distribution partners and truckers working in sync to deliver efficient regional connectivity.
Enjoy the full length episode, here:
Chris later joined Rhenus’ air freight division on the strategy side, where he would develop a flare for shaping its global air freight product portfolio. He admits, “It's incredible how fast the industry is changing these days…everything becomes much more flexible. You have the rise in importance of freighter capacity, secondary airports, really also air solutions and air-sea solutions”.
“It's fast moving, specifically air freight, it's global. And I think this is also what got me hooked on air freight compared to the overland transportation, which has its physical boundaries, I would say.”
Chris Bode
A natural change maker
Chris has a natural ability for utilization optimization and assessing logistics processes to optimize them for real-world efficiency and quality KPIs. He has found that often “inefficiencies lie still in the differences in the regions and geographies”. Predominantly, Chris is focused upon “making a really reliable solution for customers”.
Chris also underlines the link between more efficient logistics and cleaner logistics: “You must work on efficiency and with this, you also lower the emissions… I believe the overall industry is on a very good track in terms of sustainability. It's also, truth be told, simply a target alignment, because everyone wants to go for efficiency.”
Chris has always been passionate about technology and innovation, having worked in the past in biotechnology and advanced materials. He admits that applying innovation to logistics can be really exciting: “Whatever you are venturing into, implementing new solutions also in terms of IT, you have direct feedback – how this plays out for your operators, for your customers etc.”
“Working in logistics, we implement an integration today, you see the impact tomorrow already…This is what I really, really like about the industry and what you can also drive with IT and tech in the space.”
Chris Bode
Chris is prioritizing digitalization that is focused on driving new customer value: “I think the impact mid to long term will be tremendous…But what we focus on at the moment is how can we short term unlock a lot of value.” A key aspect is the use of digital freight and AI to “unburden” teams from “wasting time on repetitive tasks” and rather focus on applying their expert knowledge to keep shipments moving.
He admits that while personal meetings are “always great” for “full customer engagement”, technology has also been a game changer in staying connected: “You can connect with a customer in the US and Latin America, around the world. So it also gives you many more possibilities to really stay close with customers.” Chris enjoys that “a global or regional role” often involves “dealing with different cultures, different times, or sometimes working around the clock”.
Building the future
Having successfully built high-performing teams around the world, Chris explores what mindset best fits the constantly evolving and often volatile nature of modern air freight: “Taking ownership, entrepreneurship as a whole, then resilience – that basically whatever comes your way that you really find a way to resolve – also whenever things don't go as planned, that you say, okay, how can I improve next time?”
“With entrepreneurship, I specifically mean that you have drive and that you also want to take full ownership – how can I invest my time to create value in the organization and really start changing things?”
Chris Bode
Chris dedicates time to a number of youth organizations and is the Chairperson of the BVL Young Professionals Network. He’s a strong advocate for careers in air logistics: “It’s thinking outside of the box, every day”. He encourages young people to embrace the opportunities: “One thing I would really like to share with everyone out there is take the opportunity if you have, go for the step! There's always a way back if needed and really just see what else is out there.”
Chris is excited about the future possibilities and is a clear example of a new generation of leaders helping to guide the industry into its next era. He hopes to make a lasting contribution: “For me personally, it's really about how you can shape teams and how you can also shape people…overcoming setbacks, how you really become resilient, how you put a strategy into action, how you stay focused and put the time you have to where it creates most value.”
Want to know which martial art Chris loves doing and why? Tune into Episode 11 now to find out! 🤩
cargo.one:one features many more exciting guests in the series. If you enjoyed this episode, stay tuned to our blog or subscribe using your favorite podcast platform including Spotify, Apple podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Castbox and more.
