Europa Worldwide has made two significant steps towards its goal of becoming the number one groupage operator in the UK; opening a new site in Nottingham and delivering the first phase of its £1.7m IT investment.

The international groupage and freight forwarding specialist has become one of the first tenants in the Rushcliffe Technology and Enterprise Centre in Nottingham, near Trent Bridge cricket ground, and will use the site to handle its collection and distribution requirements across the East Midlands.

The branch will also be connected to Europa’s Birmingham hub allowing consignments to be exported across Europe on a daily basis, transporting goods the same night.

Dionne Redpath, sales and branch director, said: “The East Midlands is an area of huge potential and was previously managed remotely from our Birmingham office.  Enhancing our branch network is an important part of our strategy to fill the gaps and thus increase our footprint across the country.”

Meanwhile the first phase of Europa’s two-year investment in upgrading its IT infrastructure, an in-house designed system known as ‘Leonardo’, has been rolled out. When the deployment is completed in January 2016 Europa will offer customers full trackability and management of their consignments across its 11 regional branches and partner network.

IT director Richard Litchfield said: “This is a huge investment both financially and in resources to help future proof the business, and is essential investment for any modern company within our sector.

Andrew Baxter acquired Europa in August last year.