About the Author: John Albrecht

Since 2005 John has been developing GISTnet Library content related to European forwarding and cargo practices, road and inland waterway transportation, and by-country trade information for countries in Europe, Russia and the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East. Located in Basel, Switzerland, he also coordinates our European marketing and provides content support to our European customers.

John began his international forwarding career with Danzas (now DHL Global Forwarding), in Basel, where he earned a Swiss Federal Diploma in International Forwarding Management. After gaining operational experience in Basel and in Marseilles, France, he represented Danzas in the U.S. first as a sales delegate and then as one of their first branch managers when Danzas started its own U.S. operations. During more than 20 years as a forwarder in both Europe and the U.S., which also included time with Kuehne & Nagel, John gained a wealth of experience in ocean, air and road transportation as well as Customs issues. Upon return to Basel in 1984, John joined Swiss Navigation & Neptun and was instrumental in developing container traffic to the upper Rhine river valley (Strasbourg, Mulhouse-Ottmarsheim and Basel).

In 1993 John took up full-time consulting, working with forwarders and transport carriers to introduce quality management systems and perform market analysis and strategic planning for distribution and logistics projects, particularly in Eastern Europe.

From 1999 through 2001, John participated in the TACIS technical assistance program in Russia, where he worked with inland navigation ports along the Volga-river, developing marketing plans and new marketing organizations. In 2000 he became the Technical Director and Project Liaison Manager for the TACIS project to establish a Master Level (MSc) course in transportation management with emphasis on inter-modal operations.

In addition to his work with GISTnet, serves as Editor of Inland Waterways Magazine "Zeitschrift Binnenschifffahrt", for the Upper Rhine Valley and Logistics issues. Until his recent retirement from the faculty, John lectured at the Cooperative University of Loerrach (BA), Germany, on the subject of inland waterways and river transportation management.