Genesee & Wyoming Appoints Eddie Aston as UK/Europe Region CEO

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) today announced the appointment of Eddie Aston as chief executive officer of its UK/Europe Region. The G&W UK/Europe Region employs 3,100 people in the UK and continental Europe and comprises: i) Freightliner, the UK’s leading provider of freight rail, terminals and trucking services, ii) Pentalver, a leading UK container-logistics provider, iii) Freightliner Poland, a freight rail operator in both Poland and Germany, and iv) Rotterdam Rail Feeding, a provider of shunting and rail feeder services in the Netherlands.

Aston’s background in logistics and supply chain management includes 13 years at DHL, where he was CEO of Global Sectors, CEO of the Global Life Sciences and Health Care Sector (a £3.2-billion business across 77 countries) and held leadership positions in DHL’s supply chain solution divisions in the UK. He also has served as UK, Ireland and Nordics Managing Director at Ceva Logistics and as UK Managing Director at Northgate Plc.

“Eddie is a seasoned business leader with deep experience in logistics as well as business transformation,” said G&W Chief Executive Officer Jack Hellmann. “He is a highly energetic leader who is intensely focused on customers and will fit in well with G&W’s culture. We are excited for him to lead the next phase of G&W’s business transformation in the UK and continental Europe.”

Aston succeeds G&W's Gary Long, who has served as UK/Europe Region CEO since 2017 and is transitioning back to the United States as planned. “Gary successfully transformed our UK business to provide our customers with industry-leading rail, road and terminals services, led a major technology initiative that will transform our customer experience in the UK, all while delivering world-class safety results,” Hellmann said. “I want to thank Gary and our entire UK/Europe team for positioning the business for long-term success, particularly amidst the extraordinary challenges of the pandemic.”

About Genesee & Wyoming

G&W owns or leases 116 freight railroads organised in locally managed operating regions with 7,300 employees serving 3,000 customers.

• G&W’s four North American regions serve 42 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces and include 113 short line and regional freight railroads with more than 13,000 track-miles.
• G&W’s UK/Europe Region includes the UK’s largest rail maritime intermodal operator and second-largest freight rail provider, as well as regional rail services in continental Europe.
• Freightliner is an established rail freight provider offering customers a wide range of safe, reliable and cost-effective solutions to cater for the requirements of a diverse market sector. With an extensive offering of bulk freight transportation services as well as the 770,000 maritime containers moved per year by both road and rail, Freightliner provides the complete logistics package, ensuring satisfaction from port to door.
• Pentalver’s strategically located off-dock facilities at Felixstowe, Southampton and London Gateway, along with their inland hub at Cannock, offer diverse container services such as road haulage, container storage, container repairs, refrigeration services and cargo handling. Pentalver is also one of the UK’s leading container sales and bespoke container conversions providers.

G&W subsidiaries and joint ventures also provide rail service at more than 30 major ports, rail-ferry service between the U.S. Southeast and Mexico, transload services, and industrial railcar switching and repair. For more information, please visit www.gwrr.com or LinkedIn.