The top 20 Romanian transport companies by turnover achieved in 2019 had a total of €1,002,218,948, up from the €949,262,867 they achieved in 2018, but down from €1,184,653,456, as the top 20 companies in the 2018 ranking achieved. The companies in 2019 Top 20 have a total turnover representing 21.30% of the turnover of the top 500 transport companies, compared to 24.28%, the share of the top 20 firms in 2018. Only four firms in the Top 20 turnover were in the Top 20 profit in 2018 and also in 2019, three of which in both years – Dianthus, Internațional Alexander and Skiptrans – Duvenbeck in 2018 alone and Ravitex in 2019 alone.
The first place in the Romanian transport companies by turnover was in 2019 Vos Logistics Cargo, the occupant of the second place in 2018, because the traditional leader, Aquila, gave up a large part of the fleet working in the European Community and was included in the 2019 analysis in the Top Logistics Operators, due to the higher share that distribution and storage have in the company’s revenues. Vos Logistics Cargo had a turnover of €117,310,735, up slightly from €110,677,160 in 2018 due to the higher number of customers in portfolio. The same group also includes Vos Logistics Bulk, ranked 10th in 2018 and 9th in 2019, but with a slight decrease, from €42,906,419 to €40,619,076, caused by the petrochemical industry decline, which could not be compensated in other industries. That’s why the company operated with a smaller fleet than in 2018, as explained the managing director of the Romanian subsidiary, Marton Dozsa. The sister company Vos Logistics Romania, ranked 16th in the Top Turnover for 2018, was in 102nd place in 2019, with a decrease from €36,796,235 to €12,091,879, because of the changes in the operational structure of the three entities (a large part of Vos Logistics Romania’s activity was integrated into Vos Logistics Cargo and Vos Logistics Bulk). Directly and indirectly productive staff were transferred to Vos Cargo and Vos Bulk from Vos Logistics Romania, the latter remaining to serve the Vos group. Romanian firms have been affected since last summer by lower volumes in the car market and then by the loss of a contract totaling 6.5 million euros, because of the low price offered. 2020 is an even weaker year than 2019, because the expected economic crisis was added to the pandemic, impossible to predict, and the automotive industry, for which Vos works in large proportion, is at 25-30% of the volumes in 2019. The health crisis caused volumes to drop dramatically in April-May, so the group reduced its fleet in Romania and Poland by 112 units in 2020, but also gave fewer orders to subcontractors. In June the company was on plus for the first time since September 2019, due to subsidies from Poland and Romania. But there is currently more demand for transport for consumption than for industry. Vos Logistics Cargo suffered the most in 2020, because its turnover decreased by 30% during the first seven months, while for Bulk the decrease was 14%. And due to the health crisis and forecasts announced as early as 2019 for automotive, the company has halted investment in its own fleet in 2020 and most likely in 2021. So today its own fleet consists of 130 trucks registered on Cargo and 47 on Bulk, all operational except the lockdown period and the summer, when the volumes were reduced.
The rankings continue, as in 2018, with Duvenbeck Logistik, up slightly from €82,680,353 to €85,653,168, and with Internațional Alexander, up from €69,591,739 to €84,846,088. The performance was achieved, as Loredana Apreutese, the company’s general manager, says, due to the fact that the current activities continued to develop, but also due to diversified and optimized services offered to customers, primarily pursuing profitability. Because the company has always developed new projects, and continues to do so even now, during the pandemic, every year it had an increase of 20-25%. In 2020 the volumes decreased compared to 2019, but in June and July the producers resumed their activity, so the transport volumes increased further, and the turnover represented 99.61% of the value in July 2019. Towards the end of the year, a new increase was expected, till the levels in 2019, as usually, although customers cannot provide very accurate data on this. „The achievement of turnover will also be supported in the following period by services related to road freight transport. Although it remains the main segment of the company, freight transport blends harmoniously with storage, packaging, logistics services directly integrated into customer services, packaging washing, shipping, air and rail transport. We are an independent integrator of complete transport and logistics services, which adds value to our customers.”
Skiptrans is in fourth place, with an increase in turnover from €61,453,134 to €70,454,736. In fifth place in 2019 is Dolo Trans Olimp, with €61,441,855, compared to €52,161,984 in 2018, when it occupied the seventh position (one of which belonged to Aquila). The first company in top that recorded a decrease in turnover in 2019, although light, from €48,632,881 to €47,282,539, is Arcese International, which in 2018, with a higher value, took ninth place, and in 2019 is on the 6th. Internațional Lazăr Company grows slightly, from €38,543,283 to €41,461,879, but climbs from the 13th to the 7th, ahead of Gartner Eurotrans Romania, Dianthus Company, Vos Logistics Bulk and Ravitex.
The ranking continues closely with Dumagas Transport, rising from €35,773,584 to €41,069,615 and climbing several positions in the ranking, from the 18th to the 8th. Dumagas is approaching the value of the 2013 peak year, after in 2014-2016 it was in process of restructuring and transformation through which each division was modernized and the working processes were updated and adapted to the ever-changing and unpredictable environment of the transport industry, as the CEO of the company, Mircea Vlah, declares. And then, from 2017, each division started growing again, the company won new customers and approached new transport routes, and all efforts in previous years were seen in the consolidated result for 2019. The company has four major activities, of which international transport with tarpaulins (with its own fleet, subcontractors and spot market) represents 40% of the total turnover, domestic transport with refrigerated vans (with its own fleet, tractors and spot market) 30%, specialized transport with car carriers and industrial gas tanks 18%, and storage and distribution of frozen products 12%. As for 2020, Dumagas turnover fell by more than 30% from April to August, compared to the same period in 2019, with international and specialized transport volumes heavily affected by the pandemic and the shutdown of the largest car factories. It was not until June that the business gradually restarted and the company’s management expected to return in September to „a working position”, but with a fleet of tarpaulin trucks for international transport considerably reduced. Since 2014, the profit has been the main concern of Dumagas new management and most of the restructuring and organizational transformation measures have been aimed at profit-making and leaving turnover in second place. Measures taken include upgrading their fleet, mixing their own transport capacity with that of subcontractors, improving operational and financial monitoring and control systems (all activity is pursued on the activity panel and can be quickly intervened in any unfavourable situation), ensuring efficient financial management for obtaining advantageous financing, strengthening the cash balance and selling two divisions in 2016 (the food tank and storage and distribution of products at ambiental temperature). In terms of profit for 2020, it was affected by the restructuring of second-quarter activities, but by the end of the year the company’s management estimates that it will achieve 72-75% of the operational profit in 2019.
Because we have already written about Vos Bulk Logistics, on the 10th place is in 2019 H.Essers (14th place in 2018), which increased from €38,181,838 to €40,067,218.
