CANNES, FRANCE – On November 22nd, in the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, an audience of some 500 international car fleet professionals, saw Joe Carreira, Fleet Manager EMEA, and Robert Patrick, Regional Sourcing Manager EMEA Fleet, elected as International Fleet Manager of the Year 2012. This is the sixth successive year that the media platform Fleet Europe has organised these awards, which recognise outstanding achievements in various categories of international fleet management.

The Fleet Europe Awards were designed to find the best fleet management case studies throughout Europe, to highlight the work that international fleet managers carry out, and especially to share best practices and inspire other fleet management professionals. The Fleet Europe Awards are decided by a 21-member jury of top international fleet professionals from all sides of the automotive industry.

The Fleet Europe Awards 2012 comprise the following categories:
 International Fleet Manager of the Year Award.
 International Fleet Green Award.
 International Fleet Safety Award.
 International Fleet Mobility Award.
 International Fleet Innovation Award.
 Fleet Europe Industry Award.
 Fleet Europe Hall of Fame.

The title of International Fleet Manager of the Year went to the duo of Joe Carreira, fleet manager EMEA, and Robert Patrick, regional sourcing manager EMEA Fleet, of pharmaceutical company MSD, who beat Lutz Hansen, lead buyer Fleet Management at Bayer, and Hans den Hollander, EMEAR Car Fleet manager of Cisco Systems, who picked up second and third prizes respectively. 

The International Fleet Manager of the Year Award rewards the person or – as in this case – the team having most successfully developed an international fleet management strategy and implemented an efficient international car policy, leading to an optimized cost structure and taking into account local differences and current fleet trends like sustainability, safety and mobility management.

The strengths of Joe Carreira and Robert Patrick’s fleet management policy at MSD included:
• Fully integral process approach for fleet strategy review as part of post merger company turnaround
• Fully implemented
• Change management driven
• Clear preferred vendor strategy
• Differentiated approach according to market size

Previous winners include Raphaëlle Jeanneret, Schindler (2007); Claus-Peter Krüger, Shell (2008); Werner Berger, Nestle (2009); Bruce MacLaren, Microsoft (2010); and Ivor Johnson, Pfizer (2011).

Making another appearance on stage, Lutz Hansen of Bayer received the International Fleet Green Award 2012 from Olivier Bodet, B2B Director at PSA Peugeot Citroën. Hansen was recognized for his truly global policy with a clear link to Bayer’s corporate ecological strategy was worthy of first prize. Furthermore the jury thought that Bayer and Hansen, who previously won the International Fleet Green Award in 2009, have continued their progress towards an integrated sustainable car fleet management in an efficient way.

Second prize went to another duo, Wim Schellekens (Global Lead Buyer Corporate Services) and Wim De Wit (HR Director Retail & Private Banking) of BNP Paribas Fortis. Carreira and Patrick of MSD also made another appearance on stage this time to receive third prize in this category.

The International Fleet Green Award rewards a project focusing on eco-friendliness in fleet management, balancing overall cost optimisation with ecological aims, whilst taking into account driver satisfaction.

Previous winners include Akzo Nobel (2007), Hewlett-Packard (2008), Bayer (2009), Nokia Siemens, Networks (2010), 3M Europe (2011).

The International Fleet Safety Award was handed out for the fifth time, recognising a company that has successfully implemented a safety project for its fleet within the framework of its CSR strategy. It rewards a project that focuses on original tools and programmes to improve the safety of its drivers, whilst taking into account TCO optimisation.
First prize this year went to Spanish company Almirall, represented by Global Sourcing Manager Espiri Carrasco, who was recognized for her strong safety initiative linked to corporate values, and involving all levels of management in different countries.

Previous winners include Shell (2008), BP (2009), Coca-Cola Hellenic (2010), and Nalco Europe (2011).

For the fourth time, Fleet Europe rewarded a company that has successfully implemented a mobility project for its fleet. This category recognises the growing shift from car fleet management only to integrated mobility management, and rewards a project that focuses on enhancing mobility within the company while offering original mobility alternatives and optimisation of the use of the car.

Wim Schellekens (global Lead buyer Corporate Services) and Wim De Wit (HR director Retail & Private Banking) of BNP Paribas Fortis, whose fully detailed and well balanced mobility program offering different alternatives, replacing a conventional car policy, amongst other factors, impressed the international jury, were recognized in this category.

Previous winners include Barilla (2009), Accenture (2010), and 3M Europe (2011).

For the third time, Fleet Europe decided to reward international fleet-owners demonstrating a fleet management project that stands out in the field of innovation, and more specifically regarding the car policy, the use of reporting tools, the CSR approach, safety approach, or driver satisfaction.

Wim Schellekens (global lead buyer Corporate Services) and Wim De Wit (HR director Retail & Private Banking) of BNP Paribas Fortis received the award. Attractive incentives for non-car mobility solutions for all employees, and the decision not to offer parking spaces were just two of the elements for which BNP Paribas were recognized.

Previous winners: Johnson & Johnson (2009) – Vodafone (2010) – IBM (2011)
This third special award for fleet industry suppliers recognizes the fact that there are two sides to any industry, and there are no successful corporates without successful suppliers. The Fleet Europe Industry Award is designed to highlight innovative tools, products or services offered by international fleet suppliers that help international fleet managers to optimize their fleet management.

Consultancy company TCOPlus took first prize for the online management tools Fleetcube and Greencube. Fleetcube and Greencube, which are fleet management tools that provide a comprehensive overview of respectively the fleet cost parameters and the elements related to sustainability at differing levels. TCOPlus was recognized for the complementary nature of the tools, and the fact that fleet managers can adapt the parameters to their own needs.

Fleet Logistics with the reporting tool Fleet.Global picked up second prize, while ARI saw its ARI Analytics data management tool rewarded with third prize in this suppliers’ category.

Previous winners include Arval with Arval Analytics (2010) and Mobileye (2011).

Finally, during the Fleet Europe Awards 2012, the third fleet industry pioneer was named to the Fleet Europe Hall of Fame. This year’s entrant to the Fleet Europe Hall of Fame is one of fleet & automotive industry’s most illustrious, respected and admired fleet managers: Bruce MacLaren, Senior Category Manager of Microsoft.

The Fleet Europe Hall of Fame recognizes fleet industry leaders who have significantly contributed to the international fleet management profession. For this second edition there were 13 nominees. The winner of this category was chosen by the readers of the Fleet Europe website through online voting.

Previous winners include Tony Elliott of ARI Strategic Services Group (2010) and Gianluca Soma of ALD International & Société Générale (2011)