Hungary: European land transports grow strongly
Congestion at Europe's seaports and Budapest’s intermodal terminals delays rail transports.
Despite the ongoing global crisis, a. hartrodt is able to successfully expand its business in Hungary, an important pillar in Eastern Europe. "For the past three years, we have recorded the greatest growth in European land transportation. In terms of the number of shipments, we have annual growth rates of up to 20 percent," reports Zoltán Peternics, Managing Director at a. hartrodt hungary in Budapest. Since the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020, he has been managing the national company with 23 employees. According to him, truck transports with Germany, Austria, the Benelux countries and France are working well. There are also "a large number of transports" to the southeast to the Balkan states.
Significant increase of shipments for Food & Beverage
"For Food & Beverage, we were able to increase the number of shipments by 10 to 15 percent," says Zoltán Peternics. In this growth segment, a. hartrodt hungary has expanded its customer base. As examples of regular export business, he mentions wine and beer to China/Southeast Asia or honey to Japan, while spices are imported from India/Southeast Asia. But given the record inflation rate in Hungary (20.1 percent in September 2022), Zoltán Peternics finds it difficult to forecast future developments.
Delays at intermodal container terminals in Budapest
Asian transports are handled by a. hartrodt hungary mainly as sea freight. "We can book any container again, freight rates are falling," says Zoltán Peternics. However, congestion in Europe's ports is slowing down hinterland rail traffic with Hungary: "What used to take days now takes weeks." Rail operators were not using enough rolling stock for Hungary's import-heavy economy, the manager complains. There are also delays at Budapest's intermodal container terminals – Bilk, Metrans, Mahart: "At Mahart, for example, truck drivers have to wait four hours for a container." As a result, deliveries in Hungary are delayed.
Two thirds of all shipments of a. hartrodt hungary pass through an intermodal terminal in Budapest – LCL/FCL as well as rail shipments on the Silk Road. Via Budapest, a. hartrodt distributes its own consolidated containers from China to Europe via comprehensive general cargo networks.