Fleet Logistics has expanded into Latin and Central America through a deal with global agri-business Syngenta.

The independent fleet management specialist now manages a fleet of around 1,600 vehicles in eight countries across the region. This includes a total of 800 Syngenta cars in Brazil, which are managed directly from a special hub operation that Fleet Logistics has created in São Paulo, offering the same full portfolio of fleet management services that it offers throughout Europe.

This range of services will also be available for other fleet clients in a variety of different South American countries as Fleet Logistics rapidly establishes itself in the LATAM region of Southern and Central America region.

In addition, Fleet Logistics will be responsible for overseeing the management of an additional 800 Syngenta vehicles in a further seven countries across Latin and Central America – namely Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Panama, Guatemala and Mexico.

These vehicles will be managed through an assortment of local suppliers with Fleet Logistics responsible for the management and co-ordination of suppliers to bring a series of standardized processes and efficiencies from the customer perspective.

Fleet Logistics began the implementation of the LATAM project with Syngenta at the end of last year, with a go-live in July, overseen by business development director, Marcus Hennecke.

“The go-live went very smoothly and we now have three full-time staff working in our São Paulo hub. We expect to grow that number further very quickly,” he said.

“We are now live in eight LATAM countries and we will see a second wave of a further 10 countries come on-stream in the region in September. We are already seeing interest from other international fleet clients in supporting their fleets in the region, but our initial ambition will be to stabilize our operations in Syngenta before taking on any further commitments,” he said.

Fleet Logistics also manages the Syngenta fleet in Europe with 2,400 vehicles in 20 markets at the moment and with the target to expand to 3,600 vehicles by the end of 2016 with a full coverage of the EAME region.

Axel Ernst, global head of fleet, said: “Fleet Logistics has a unique proposition in the market as they are fully independent, which is very important to Syngenta and, as part of TÜV SÜDgroup, they are able to expand quickly and at low cost across different regions of the world.

“We now look forward to Fleet Logistics being able to introduce the same level of efficiencies and improvements across our entire Latin American fleet with similar levels of success,” he said.

Marcus Henpeck added: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to expand our collaboration with Syngenta internationally into the LATAM region of Latin and Central America.

“The experiences we have enjoyed together in the APAC region have been really rewarding for both parties and we look forward to bringing the same efficiencies and success rate to the LATAM region. This is a further step along the journey for Fleet Logistics in creating a truly global network for our customers.”