DHL Express sees ‘good potential’ in Romania despite diverse challenges and is planning to expand facilities for flights to the south-east European country, managing director Daniel Kearvell told CEP-Research in an interview.
“Romania has as much potential as any country in Eastern Europe. Before the crisis in 2008 it was very successful in attracting FDI. After the crisis it was slow to get back but in the last couple of years Romania has been picking up and GDP is growing again,” the experienced DHL manager said.
Fundamentally he was optimistic that the country would continue to benefit from EU membership and develop its economy. “International firms tend to expand once they are here. And there are some examples of firms near-shoring from other parts of Europe to here.” Moreover, e-commerce “is booming” in the country, he pointed out.
However, the country faces demographic problems as educated young people continue to move abroad. “There have to be more efforts to keep the best people,” he urged.
In addition, DHL and other logistics companies face various operational challenges in Romania, Kearvell admitted. “There are not enough highways at present. It can take 9 hours to get from Bucharest to the border (with Hungary). It would be only 3-4 hours with a new motorway.”
At present, western Romania “is where the growth is”, and the region is benefiting from investments in the airports of Cluj and Timisoara which are “decent” airports, the DHL Romania chief pointed out.
DHL Express itself has daily B757 flights from Leipzig to Bucharest as well as sub-contracted flights to Cluj and Arad. “In November we will move the western hub from Arad to Timisoara,” Kearvell revealed. At Cluj a new facility was opened last year and operational space will be doubled there this autumn.
Looking further ahead, DHL Express has plans for a greenfield facility at Bucharest Airport which could involve investment of some €4-5 million, Kearvell said.
On the commercial side, the country is aiming to build up its customer base of SMEs to counter-balance international firms, who comprise about 35% of customers at present. DHL Express, with about 500 employees, operates a network of 50 service centres alongside the three flight routes.
The company, with more than one million shipments a year, now focuses on international express following the disposal of the domestic express company Cargus in 2012.
