On July 2, 2025, Maurizio Fasce, Regional Director Mediterranean & Southern Africa at a. hartrodt, looks back on four decades of service and a moving career between Italy, Japan and extensive trips to South Africa. If there is one constant in his extraordinary working life, it is this: "I am constantly on the move." Since 2009, the 58-year-old has been responsible for the national organizations in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey and South Africa from the Italian port city of Genoa. Before that, he was for three years Managing Director of a. hartrodt italiana, where it all began back in 1985 when he joined the company.
Highlight: Over eight years heading a. hartrodt Japan in Tokyo
In retrospect, Maurizio Fasce says: "I couldn't have been luckier than to cross paths with Andreas Wenzel, my mentor and inspiration." The Japanophile, former Managing Partner motivated him to move to Tokyo in 1998, where he was soon appointed President and Managing Director of a. hartrodt Japan and stayed for over eight years. For him, "being one of the very first non-German Managing Directors" is a personal highlight.
Friendship: Sharing laughter and difficult moments
With the current Managing Partner, Maurizio Fasce enjoys "regular intellectual sparring sessions", Felix Wenzel has "showed him a different way of strategic thinking". In addition to the generation change in the owner family, he also witnessed huge global infrastructural developments such as the "Belt and Road Initiative", the expansion of the Panama Canal and the introduction of super container ships. He got to know telex and fax before digitalization led to quantum leaps. His friendship with Francesco Lanzone, Regional Director in Northeast Asia, is particularly special to him: "We developed together the business between China and Japan, sharing laughter and moments of hardship."
Institutional mandates have also "highly contributed to shaping me into the manager I am today," says Maurizio Fasce. These include the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan, the Italian freight forwarders’ federation Fedespedi and the European freight forwarding association Clecat.