“Transportation prices rose by as much as 50% in some cases this year, but the grain traffic on roads increased, as well. Whereas we would generally carry grain to Hungary in the past years, now the traffic has moved towards the Black Sea,” says Gheorghe Vlase, owner of carrier Vlase Spedition, which posted EUR16.5 million revenue last year. The company carried grain for such traders as Alfred Toepfer, Cargill and Nidera.
Traders, on the other hand, confirm that they had to incur higher transportation costs in August, September and part of October because they had to use trucks after the Danube river level fell, thus rendering use of barges impossible.
“The drought disrupted logistics almost entirely. The barges could no longer be used. Demand for road transportation was so high that carriers raised their prices by as much as 50%. Now things are back to normal,” says Victor Beznea, general manager of Nidera, a trader that ended last year with EUR97.5 million revenue.
Major grain traders like Cargill, Glencore, Ameropa and Nidera pay EUR5-10 per ton to ship grain by barge on the Danube, market sources say. If the same amount is shipped by truck, the costs per ton are double or triple.
“The fees for road transportation may reach EUR35/ton,” Beznea says.
The major traders had 950,000 tons of grain carried by truck from August through October, according to the estimates of the Agricultural Product Traders Association, which brings together the major traders on the local market.
Under the circumstances, traders’ transportation costs amounted to EUR15 million to EUR30 million during this period, according to ZF estimates. Were they to transport the same quantities by ship on the Danube, the costs would have stood at EUR5 million to EUR10 million. These extra costs translate into higher revenue by up to EUR25 million for carriers in Romania.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)