DSV Road, the third largest freight transport company in Romania and Europe, estimates that the freight transportation market in Romania will continue to grow in 2023, but not at the level of last year, Romania is becoming a key point on the map of international transport, and transportation services that help companies reduce their expenses will be the most sought after throughout the year, these are the main predictions of the transportation market in 2023 according to an analysis of the company.
“The evolution of the market in Romania is closely related to the situation at the macro level, with what is happening in the other markets, the regional context. We always follow the external factors, and if we look at the year 2023 we especially expect a consolidation of the important advance obtained last year, one after the pandemic period. Although the effects of inflation have been felt, we see the potential for growth in transport services, especially groupage and intermodal ones, and the resettlement of some transport routes, following the war, will generate new increases”, said Sergiu Iordache, Managing Director DSV Road.
The main forecasts on the transportation market in 2023, according to DSV Road
1. The transportation market continues to grow
According to DSV Road forecasts, the transportation market in Romania will continue to grow this year, but will not exceed the level of 2022. More precisely, in 2023, the growth rate of this industry will slow down due to lower consumption, due to inflation growth.
In fact, the transportation industry in Romania is one of the most stable branches of the economy, with continuous growth, even in times of crisis.
In this context, DSV Road estimates a 10% increase of its business, which will lead to a consolidation of the accelerated advance from 2022, when it recorded a turnover of 70 million euros, 40% higher than the previous year.
2. Romania is becoming increasingly important on the international transportation map
Romania is becoming an increasingly interesting destination on the international map of freight transport, which is expected to grow in 2023 as well, although the evolution will be below that of last year, when there was a strong return of activity following the pandemic.
From the point of view of the transport of goods, Romania has gained importance at the international level for several reasons, including the war in Ukraine, which moved part of the traffic to our country, the infrastructure projects for the development of highways and railways and the projects made with European money, which helped the development of businesses in Romania.
3. Groupage transport will remain the most used mode of transport
Groupage transport, which allows a single truck to be loaded with the goods of several companies, continues to be the most requested mode of transport at the market level, especially for import, but increasingly also for export, due to its benefits. Among these, there is the ability to transport any weight between 10 kg and 2,500 kg without the obligation to load a full truck, optimizing costs by up to 80% for companies, and the speed of transport to different recipients.
The growth of groupage transport is increasingly supported by the development of e-commerce and online services and the minimization of inventories.
Within DSV Road, the groupage transport service is the most requested service, representing 60% of the company’s business. In 2022, the demand for groupage increased by 40% within the transport company.
4. Intermodal transport is growing rapidly
Intermodal transport, which represents the combination of two modes of transport (eg rail and road), is becoming increasingly important in the Romanian transport market due to lower costs and positive effects on the environment, an increasingly important concern for companies.
At DSV Road, intermodal transport is in second place on the list of the most requested services, estimating an increase in demand for this type of transport of at least 20% in 2023.
5. Green Transport solutions are gaining speed in Romania
Alignment with EU standards and European directives has led to an increase in the interest of companies to reduce the amount of CO2 and thus to implement Green Transport solutions.
Although still at the beginning in Romania, the sustainability part is gaining more and more ground, especially in the context where the ESG strategy has become an essential part of the companies’ business strategy.
Thus, DSV Road has developed the CO2 Reporting Tool solution, a system for monitoring the impact of the carbon footprint on the environment, as a result of the use of fuel in the road transport of goods, which has the effect of reducing in real-time the amount of carbon emissions per each batch of transported goods and, by default, per truck.
Also recently, the DSV Group, of which DSV Road is a part, launched its most ambitious sustainability program to reduce its carbon footprint, which will allocate approximately DKK 1 billion (over EUR 134 million) to projects green, sustainable initiatives and innovation projects in the next five years.
Through this special program, DSV Road from Romania enters the race of initiatives to protect the environment, accelerating the growth of the Green Transport division with new projects to reduce the amount of carbon emissions.
„We give increased importance to green services, and by using our technology to monitor the amount of carbon emissions removed in the air, companies can see the impact on the environment. It is also in line with DSV Road’s mission to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 40% by 2030″, explains Sergiu Iordache, Managing Director DSV Road.
6. Export activity, increasingly intense
Another important trend is the increase in activity in the area of exports, with the advance recorded both in traditional export categories and in new ones. The diversification of the local economy grew more and more, and Romania climbed the international charts that analyze the level of complexity of the world’s economies, being the 19th most complex and sophisticated country out of 133 countries in the world, after an advance of 20 places in just a few years, according to an analysis by Harvard University.
7. Digitalization is increasingly visible in the transportation industry
Last but not least, the logistics and transport market in Romania will be in a continuous transformation, in a context where digitization is redefining the way operations and services in this sector are thought of. Solutions such as direct-to-customer freight tracking, such as DSV Road’s ETA app, will be especially useful as the current environment will continue to see the problem of increasing border waiting hours.
DSV Road expects that this year’s industry trends will lead to positive dynamics and strengthen the position of the Romanian market, one of the most important markets in the region.
