IN Brief:
- Rhenus has established a dedicated new-energy logistics business in Fuzhou, Fujian province.
- The 18-person office will coordinate battery energy storage shipments, warehousing, customs clearance, and final delivery.
- Europe is the primary planned trade lane, with South America secondary and further recruitment planned through March 2027.
Rhenus has established a specialist new-energy logistics operation in Fuzhou, China, to organise exports of battery energy storage systems and related equipment. The office is the group’s first in Greater China to make new-energy logistics a core business division, combining transport planning, warehousing, customs services and final delivery for manufacturers serving international customers.
Fuzhou is in Fujian province, where Rhenus identifies a concentration of new-energy manufacturers. Xiamen provides a nearby maritime export gateway for battery energy storage system (BESS) shipments. The new office is intended to develop customers across Greater China, with Europe identified as its principal trade lane and South America as a secondary market. The operation will also serve ecommerce businesses exporting into Europe.
Rhenus has assigned an 18-person team to the office and plans further recruitment through the end of the first quarter of 2027. Existing staff bring experience working with major participants in the energy sector. The company says agreements are already in place with customers in its targeted business areas, although it has not named those customers or published contracted cargo volumes for the new operation.
Battery energy storage projects can require large battery assemblies, power conversion equipment and control systems to reach an installation site in a planned sequence. The equipment’s dimensions and mass affect lifting, packing and inland vehicle selection, while the declared contents and transport classification determine which carrier acceptance rules apply. Coordinating the different consignments is part of the forwarding work being organised through Fuzhou.
Lithium battery cargo must be classified against the article actually shipped, including whether cells or batteries travel separately or are contained in equipment. The applicable dangerous goods requirements differ by transport mode and depend on the battery type and configuration. Packaging, labelling, documentation and carrier acceptance therefore have to be determined for each consignment rather than applied as one universal procedure to every BESS project.
Coordinating the logistics from a Chinese office allows the export process to be organised near the manufacturing base. Equipment can be received and prepared for movement, export information assembled, customs formalities managed and space arranged with carriers. The transfer from Fujian to an overseas port is only one stage. Once goods arrive in the destination market, imported equipment still requires clearance, inland movement and delivery to its designated receiving location.
For European destinations, the Fuzhou office will support customs document screening, value-added tax filings, extended producer responsibility registration, packaging compliance and preparation for battery passports. Rhenus also offers advice on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. These obligations attach to particular goods, economic operators and regulated activities; the applicability of each requirement has to be assessed against the specific consignment and destination market.
The EU’s battery passport requirement is scheduled to become mandatory from 18 February 2027 for relevant categories of batteries placed on its market. Preparation can involve identifying battery products, collecting supplier information and organising technical and regulatory records before import. The obligation to create and maintain the passport rests with the economic operator placing the finished battery on the EU market, while the logistics provider can support the associated documentation workflow.
Rhenus also plans to support ecommerce exporters through its warehouse network in Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain. That service covers document exchange, bonded warehousing, customs clearance and distribution to final destinations. Although ecommerce and industrial energy projects operate with different shipment sizes and delivery patterns, they can draw on the same regional infrastructure for customs processing, warehousing and transport connections.
The European warehouse network will also support ecommerce customers with more frequent stock replenishment, picking and distribution than would ordinarily characterise a large energy storage project. A BESS consignment can instead require scheduled receiving and dispatch of high-value equipment against construction milestones. Both activities use customs and warehousing infrastructure, but the cargo profile determines handling and delivery arrangements.
Rhenus already combines freight forwarding with warehouse operations in Europe, including a Merck operation in Strasbourg using weighed picking trolleys for order checks. The Fuzhou team draws on the group’s international network for a different part of the process: organising shipments at their Chinese manufacturing origin and connecting them to European customs and distribution infrastructure.
Rhenus describes Fuzhou as its sixteenth office in Greater China. The current team and existing customer agreements give the specialist operation an initial base, while the planned recruitment through March 2027 provides its next disclosed development milestone. Contracted BESS volumes, the value of individual projects and the number of shipments to each destination have not been published.
