“There are major companies that used to operate in Russia. Considering what is going on in Ukraine now, we can develop a new infrastructure using European funds,” said Ion Lixandru, vice-president of Romanian Logistics Association (ARILOG).
“What will happen now is the relocation of some logistics hubs from Ukraine to Romania and Hungary. Russia, however, is the main route to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). We didn’t know how to use the Moldova platform to gain entrance to the CIS until now.”
A very important logistics point is the Constanta Harbor, which needs to be developed and connected to the West of Romania and the rest of Europe. This is precisely the purpose of the European Corridor IV (Nadlac-Arad – Sibiu-Pitesti-Bucharest-Constanta), which is currently made up only of unconnected highway sections, while the railway infrastructure is “an untapped resource.”
“Infrastructure will be very important, as will Constanta Harbor. The more highways we’ll have, the higher the speed and lower the costs will get,” said Mihnea Ioan, general manager of Havi Logistics Romania.
“The railway is an untapped source at the moment. It’s more like a hindrance now.”
To optimize their business, logistics companies have been using new software solutions, for which reason sales of IT companies increased in the last two years, as well.
“The year 2014 is a year of growth. Growth comes from projects which are smaller yet greater in number,” said Andrei Chites, managing partner of Point Logistix, a developer and integrator of software solutions for warehouse management (WMS).
“Demand varies with industry. Whereas the food industry generated a lot of business four or five years ago, now we are seeing a greater diversity.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)