Due to the economic recession that has been with us for years, logistics service providers keep specialising in order to give the best service in certain domains of the trade to be able to stay alive – says Bálint Varga, head of sales at Gebrüder Weiss Kft. In the domains where a company is present only half-heartedly it is soon forced to quit the market.

Mr Varga told our magazine that the number of transports is growing moderately but compared with last year the average weight is reducing. Partly because of these trends each company pays increased attention to improving their own supply chain. By opening a new logistics centre in Győr and with further investments in technology they would like to provide even better services than before; the company’s second-generation mobile communication system has a GPS function and they plan to make their CRM system more interactive. Gyula Mészáros, logistics director of Raben Trans European Hungary Kft. informed Trade magazin of their experiencing a contraction in the domestic consumer goods market. Many companies which had earlier had a significant presence in the Hungarian market concentrated their stocks in regional warehouses. The volume of transports is decreasing and there is a growing number of individual needs. Global Connectedness Index (GCI), a study conducted by DHL revealed that the world’s economy is still below the 2007 level. There has been a modest growth since 2009 but 50-60 percent of international processes are still realised within the same geographical region. Obviously, these trends have influence the express forwarding services market too, which is actually an indicator of economic performance: if the volume of express forwarding drops, the economic performance is not good – and vice versa, we learn from Zoltán Bándli, director of commerce at DHL Express. Because of the recession the number of international express consignments reduced to half in Hungary, as transportation solutions moved in the direction of more economical solutions Mr Bándli told that the company was very successful in the domestic Time Definite market in the last two years, growing by two-digit numbers. For DHL Express the SME sector is of key importance as on a global level 90 percent of their 2.6 million partners are small businesses – in Hungary the same ratio is nearly 70 percent. Since a growing number of SMEs go international with their products and services and this makes the sector an important contributor in boosting the national economy, DHL Express gives priority to the transportation needs of this segment and takes its special needs into consideration. Lajos Szabó, managing director of GPS tracking company iData Kft. reckons that because of the economic recession turnover fell in the transportation sector. In parallel with this, efficiency increasing methods have become more important. By using a tracking system and controlling motor fuel consumption, iData’s partners have saved nearly HUF 7 billion. Zsolt Csiszár, sales director with FM Logistic Hungary Kft. told that the company compensates for the falling demand in domestic logistics services by going regional and offering services in neighbouring countries. For instance by opening their logistics centre in the western part of Hungary they can deliver goods in Slovenia in 24-28 hours. The company now has three premises in Hungary and the sales director also told that for 2013 they expect further growth.