1980
During the 1980s and 1990s, Panalpina further strengthened its position in specific segments. Among other things, it launched combined air freight and ocean freight operations between the Far East and Europe, Africa, Oceania and India, and initiated scheduled air freight services between Luxembourg and the United States, South Africa and Brazil. In 2004, Panalpina’s successful long-term commitment to freight services to and from emerging Far Eastern markets reaped an appropriate reward: China granted the company a coveted “A” licence, enabling it to develop its own operational organization in this promising market. In the same year, the Group consolidated its market leadership in the oil and gas business by taking over the Scottish firm Grampian International, and strengthened its position in Asia by buying the South Korea-based International Aero-Sea Forwarders.