Replanned

According to Dr György Karmazin, vice president of the Hungarian Association of Logistics, Purchasing and Inventory Management (MLBKT), three key factors influence the logistics market. In 2015, due to low motor fuel prices and changes in supply chain strategies freight costs dropped 10-15 percent per order. At the same time the administrative burden grew and there aren’t enough messengers, drivers and forklift truck operators. As for the domain of informatics, processes are getting simpler thanks to increased mobility and an improved user experience. The vice president thinks the biggest problem with the Electronic Trade and Transport Control System (EKÁER) is that it puts extra financial burden on logistics service providers. What is more, both they and the companies who use their services have to do much more administrative work than before. In addition to this, the European Union started harmonisation talks about the electronic monitoring of the whole supply chain and about a wider cooperation in sharing data. MLBKT will support member companies with updated information and networking opportunities. Bálint Varga, the head of Gebrüder Weiss Transport and Logistics Kft.’s sales division informed Trade magazin that in their domestic turnover export is more significant than in the case of other affiliates operating in neighbouring countries. The reason of this is that many multinational companies set up their distribution centres in Hungary. Because of this Gebrüder Weiss Hungary’s good performance greatly depends on the company’s international network. They now pay special attention to the Caucasus region – the logistics service provider thinks there is great business potential in the region in the medium term. The company prepared well for the launch of the EKÁER system. Being part of an international network, the Gebrüder Weiss Hungary plays a platform role in the region, therefore 15-20 percent of its turnover is generated by consignment dispatched by foreign partners, which the company collects and transports daily to various destinations in South East Europe. Among Raben Trans European Hungary Kft.’s most popular services we find collective and complete road transportation to destinations in both Hungary and abroad, warehouse logistics and full-scale customs and excise duty services. PR and marketing manager Ágnes Bolyki told us that the Raben Group plays an integrating role, catering for all partner needs throughout the supply chain, from freight forwarding raw material to distributing the finished goods to end users. Customers are satisfied with Raben’s services and this can be seen well from the various awards the company has won, for instance in 2014 the Raben Group was honoured with two prestigious ‘eyefortransport’ awards – Best 3PL for Consumer Goods Supply Chains and Best 3PL for Fresh Food Supply Chains. Nagel Hungária Kft. specialises in temperature-controlled food logistics. The company is part of the Nagel Group and head of sales Miklós Petromárkó stressed that their transport and storage network for temperature-controlled food covers the whole of Europe. They are the suppliers of many large food industry companies in the Hungarian market. Nagel Hungária provides services in many different temperature ranges. They also install special in-store displays for promotion campaigns. Mr Petromárkó thinks they have managed to develop a well-working system since the launch of EKÁER, employing administrators who update licence plate numbers manually for those partners who ask for it, in order to comply with the rules. The company’s distribution network covers the whole of Hungary. FM Logistic is the logistics partner of several major food industry manufacturers and traders in Europe, Asia and Brazil. Zsolt Csiszár, commercial director of the company told our magazine that their main activities are warehousing, freight forwarding in Hungary and abroad and offering various co-packing solutions. Their services are personalised to suit partner needs perfectly. Among FM Logistic’s customers we find food processing enterprises, hygiene and beauty product manufacturers, high-tech companies and large retail chains. The company keeps an eye on market and regulatory changes. Mr Csiszár informed us that the EKÁER system generates lots of extra cost and red tape, making it harder for them to concentrate on their services. With its ‘pooling’ concept FM Logistic developed a special solution: freight forwarding of compatible ready-made products, manufactured by different companies for the same distribution channel.