Matei Marilena, Author at Traficmedia

Renault Trucks a vândut anul trecut în România peste 700 de autovehicule noi, în scădere cu 10% față de 2023, dar „2023 a fost un an excepțional, cu numeroase fonduri europene care trebuiau absorbite și numeroase proiecte ce trebuiau finalizate, și în care 30% din vânzările companiei au fost realizate în urma unor licitații – pe când în 2024 vânzările realizate în urma unor licitaţii au atins mai puțin de 20%”, așa cum a explicat Country Manager-ul Renault Trucks pentru România și Moldova, Ginel Trincă.

Aproape o sută din cele 7 sute de autovehicule noi vândute în 2024 au fost utilitare ușoare Master, aproape toate carosate. „Pe acest segment avem de suferit pentru că modelul nou nu mai este disponibil cu tracțiune pe spate, cea mai solicitată datorită sarcinii utile mai mari. Însă din toamnă vom avea din nou și vanuri cu tracțiune pe spate, care însă vor fi mai scumpe, deoarece vor avea emisii mai mari de CO2”.

Pe segmentul camioanelor de peste 16 t Renault Trucks a vândut puțin peste 600 de unități, în ușoară scădere față de 2023, dar cota sa a atins cel mai bun nivel din întreaga activitate, de 8,9%, față de 6-7% în 2023, „când am fi putut vinde mai mult, dar au existat probleme de capacitate de producție“.

Autotractoarele din gama T reprezintă circa 55% din totalul vânzărilor companiei, șasiurile pentru construcții, pompieri ș.a. 20%, Master 10-12%, iar vehiculele de distribuție, 10-12%, adică un mix de produse și de clienți foarte bun.

2024 a fost deci un an bun, „dar pentru asta am muncit mult”, a spus Ginel Trincă.

„Am început cu mai multe comenzi rămase din anul anterior decât avem acum în 2025, dar și pe parcurs au venit multe, în timp ce câteva au fost anulate, deoarece mai ales clienții din vestul țării, care lucrează în industria automotive, au avut de suferit și nu au mai cumpărat mașini noi, ba chiar și-au redus flotele. Este clar în întreaga Europă că acest domeniu nu merge bine.“

Întregul interviu realizat cu Ginel Trincă, Country Manager Renault Trucks pentru România și Moldova poate fi citit în ediţia specială Tranzit Catalog, care va apărea la finalul lunii ianuarie.

The transportation and logistics market comes after two very good years: after a 2022 in which road hauliers regained their respect and were able to assert their point of view and receive a fair price for the service they provided, and ocean carriers recorded their highest ever profits, 2023 led to a softening of demand for transportation, with the huge inventories built up in 2022 and even 2023 – when many of the ocean shipments ordered as early as 2022 were carried out – being “swallowed” hard by retailers who ordered big and expensive in a peak year.

Overall, however, 2023 was another good year for the industry, and Romania, exceptionally, benefited fully from the good agricultural year in both Romania and Ukraine, with the Port of Constanța experiencing its best year ever in terms of volumes of grain transhipped and the number of containers handled. Therefore, after the disaster in agriculture due to the lack of rain the whole summer, the cereals volumes that transited the Port of Constanța in 2024 reached the same volumes as in 2022, losing the 33% increase gained in 2023 only.

2024 was a difficult year for transporters and logistics operators specialized in automotive, as the automotive sector across Europe was severely strained due to reduced demand – especially for electric cars – putting many car and commercial vehicle manufacturers at risk of paying penalties for failing to meet their target to reduce CO₂ emissions compared to 2019 production.

e-commerce did well, with volume increases for carriers, couriers and fulfillment centres, and domestic consumption was quite good compared to other European countries. Costs were still rising, so margins – both in transportation and warehousing – were low, but volumes were satisfactory for some industries.

So 2025 begins with the hope that things will go at least as well as they did in 2024: Romanian hauliers, which have conserved their resources better than their Polish, Lithuanian or Bulgarian colleagues, have only marginally reduced their fleets so they can now plus up in the European market with an economy that is starting to recover, and logisticians and shippers are happy to see the domestic market growing, thanks to a few new manufacturers that have built or are still building new production capacities here in our country. More and more retailers from all industries – fashion, food, construction and so on – are strategically positioning their regional distribution hubs, encouraged not only by Romania’s favoured geographical position, but also, more recently, by the possibility of higher transport speed due to the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen with land borders, as well as the expanding the highways network, which, in addition to speed, also bring lower distribution costs.

For 2026, however, the Romanian market will accelerate the European trend of increasing transportation costs, as Romania will adopt the new Eurovignette, which is paid according to weight and the number of kilometres driven and which will increase the road tax by about 6-7 times compared to now.

Until then, transportation and storage costs will also be influenced by the increase in the minimum wage, which in Romania has risen to 4,050 lei since January, an increase of 9.46% compared to December 2024. On the one hand, higher costs are causing concern among entrepreneurs, but on the other hand, higher wages also mean more consumption and a hope that the local labour force is less tempted to leave to work abroad.

So, all things considered, 2025 is another year that is unlikely to resemble previous ones, so plans are being made again… as opportunities arise.