After two years of the pandemic that slowed growth in many areas, the freight transport industry has grown rapidly, 2022 being a spectacular year for companies in the field, amid the growing demand for transport services, is the conclusion of DSV Road, one of the largest transport service companies in Romania and Europe.
Thus, in this context, last year DSV Road recorded a turnover of 70 million euros, 40% higher than in 2021, due to the increase in the number of customers and demand for all types of transport, especially groupage and intermodal.
“2022 was one of the best years, truly spectacular, for the freight industry, with an accelerated growth in demand that was felt especially from the second quarter. The largest increase was recorded in the activity of importing goods, but the export side also experienced an effervescent period last year. The increase in consumption, along with the opening of more and more brick- and-mortar stores and the expansion of ecommerce, has generated increases in all types of transport at DSV Road”, says Sergiu Iordache, Managing Director of DSV Road.
Thus, at the business level, in 2022, DSV Road volumes increased by approximately 50% due to the opportunities that the company maximized and the expansion of the portfolio of clients and subcontractors.
At the same time, large increases, around 40%, were recorded for group transport services, especially in the context of inflation. Groupage transport allows loading a single truck with the goods of several companies, weighing between 10 kg and 2,500 kg, with different recipients, which optimizes the costs of transporting products by up to 80% for companies. In this context, groupage transport services represent approximately 60% of DSV Road’s business in Romania, followed by intermodal transport.
Also, the demand for intermodal transport, which involves the combination of rail and road transport, for bringing goods to Romania, increased by 30% last year, this type of transport taking second place in the top of the best-selling transport services at DSV Road in the local market.
“Groupage or intermodal freight transport will continue to dominate the market, both because it can reduce costs in companies, and because Romanian companies are increasingly interested in reducing the impact on the environment. And, in this case, intermodal transport has an essential role, helping companies in their strategy to achieve ESG objectives, and us, at DSV Road, to reach the target of reducing carbon emissions by up to 40% by 2030”, explains Sergiu Iordache, Managing Director DSV Road.
At the same time, an important increase was also recorded in the demand for internal transport of goods, by 25%, because of the expansion of the large store chains on the territory of Romania.
In 2022, DSV Road transported more than 600,000 tons of cargo, mainly from the automotive, chemical, IT&C, fashion, pharma, and electro-IT categories, for large, medium and small companies. The largest quantities of goods came from Germany, Hungary, and Italy, and in terms of exports, the largest volume of goods was transported to Germany, Italy, and Hungary.
Romania is one of the most important markets in the region for the Danish group DSV, present locally for almost 30 years. Thus, for 2023, the company expects a 10% increase in business.