New Gebruder Weiss logistics hub near the Capitalcompany

The international transport and logistics company Gebruder Weiss expanded its network of logistics terminals in Romania by inaugurating, yesterday, in Popeşti-Leordeni, a new logistics hub, for the realization of which it spent 20 million euros.

Present at the event, Wolfram Senger-Weiss, CEO of Gebruder Weiss, said: "The new location complements the already existing facilities in the West of the Capital, at Bolintin-Deal, thus facilitating an even more efficient distribution of goods in the metropolitan area. In this way, we offer first-class conditions to provide even better logistical support to Romania's emerging economy".

The new logistics terminal covers an area of approximately 19,000 square meters dedicated to storage, cargo handling and administration. The logistics hub in Popeşti-Leordeni has transport connections with the port of Constanţa and with logistics destinations in Bulgaria. The terminal is equipped with heat pumps, and the company's management is considering the installation of a photovoltaic system and the construction of charging stations for electric vehicles, in order to reduce as much as possible the CO2 footprint resulting from the logistics activity on the environment. One of the location's customers is an international paint manufacturer, for which Gebruder Weiss stores 12,000 pallets for national distribution.

Viorel Leca, general manager of the Romanian branch of the Gebruder Weiss company, stated: "The increase in traffic flow in the Capital requires a solution with two terminals, which allows us to supply the metropolitan area from two geographical directions, thus making the distribution of goods more efficient. In the first six months of 2024 alone, the new hub handled 78,000 cargo shipments with a total weight of more than 35,000 tons. Considering that the current warehouse occupancy rate is 70%, we plan to expand our customer portfolio in the near future. The land purchased in Popeşti Leordeni has a total area of 70,000 square meters, which will allow us to build additional storage and cross-dock spaces, depending on future projects".

• Terminal inaugurated at the completion of three decades of activity in Romania

The opening of the new terminal of the Gebruder Weiss company coincided with the 30th anniversary since the logistics company entered the market in our country. If 30 years ago, the Romanian branch of the Austrian company had only 16 employees, now it has over 700 employees and 13 locations in eight important economic zones of our country, serving over 2000 clients from the following industries: construction, FMCG, oil&gas, telecommunications, retail and automotive.

Thomas Moser, Director and Regional Manager for the Black Sea and CIS area at Gebruder Weiss, stated: "Over the last 30 years, Romania's economic development has been impressive and the country has become a sought-after destination for manufacturing. We will continue to support the growth of industry and trade in Romania through our logistics expertise".

In 2023, the company's more than 700 employees managed approximately 1.1 million cargo shipments from the logistics terminals located in Bolintin-Deal, Arad, Constanţa, Bacău, Cluj, Sibiu, Craiova and Braşov. That is why, at the end of 2023, for the activity carried out in our country, the company recorded a turnover of 94.3 million euros, a level close to that recorded in 2021, but below that of 2022, which amounted to 115 million euros. From its locations in Romania, the logistics provider operates road transport to Germany, France, Hungary and the Czech Republic and manages air and sea transport to destinations around the world.

Regarding the sustainability of the business, Viorel Leca told us that the company tested the use of an electric truck and uses 7 electric vans in Cluj, Sibiu, Braşov, Craiova, Constanţa and Iaşi for home delivery services for online retail on which included them in its portfolio in 2018. Through the 7 electric vehicles used, between October and December 2023, 2100 deliveries of goods were made, accounting for 311 tons, and which reduced the CO2 footprint by 14 tons. On the storage side, the company will implement several energy efficiency projects, aimed at the installation of photovoltaic panels, the use of heat pumps, and LED lighting.

Regarding the introduction of electric trucks for transport, the representatives of Gebruder Weiss have told us that they are in discussions with the major manufacturers in the automotive industry to find viable solutions from an economic point of view, not only in terms of price - the purchase price of an electric truck is three times that of a fossil fuel truck, but also in terms of weight electric batteries. In the case of 5-ton electric trucks, due to the weight of the batteries, there would only be room left for transporting 800 kilograms of goods, which would be totally inefficient for logistics companies, and in the case of a minimum 20-ton truck, the companies would face more inefficiency due to the fact that the weight of the batteries is somewhere around 8-9 tons, which would mean that they can carry around 10-12 tons of cargo, which is totally unprofitable at the moment for companies in the field .