The Austrian logistics operator, one of the largest players on the local transport and storage market, closed 2025 with a turnover of 317.7 million lei (63 million euros) and a loss of 2.7 million lei, after a year of workforce adjustment. At group level, Quehenberger generated 602 million euros in 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Quehenberger Logistics Rou, the local branch of the Austrian group, has been present on the Romanian market for 27 years and has become one of the most visible 3PL operators in the country, with a network of warehouses in 11 cities and a client portfolio covering fashion, retail, automotive and FMCG distribution. The company ended 2025 with a turnover of 317.7 million lei (63 million euros), down 12.6% compared to the 363.8 million lei (73.1 million euros) reported in 2024, and turned into a loss, with a negative net result of 2.7 million lei (541,600 euros), after a profit of 15.7 million lei (3.1 million euros) a year before, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. The average number of employees decreased to 492, 136 fewer than in 2024. The decline of the local branch comes in a year that the company’s management defined as one of transition. «2025 is a transition year, 2025 and 2026 will be difficult years. There are a lot of uncertainties, globally speaking. Romania, unfortunately, has not yet finished last year with the elections», previously declared Alexandru Catană, Quehenberger’s country manager for Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. At group level, Quehenberger generated a turnover of 602 million euros in 2025, with an annual average of 4,000 employees, being active in 69 locations in 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, with headquarters in Austria, according to data published by the company. Quehenberger Romania’s portfolio totals almost 300,000 square meters of operating space, distributed in three large logistics nodes – Bucharest, Timisoara and Cluj – but with an effective presence in 11 cities: Apahida (Cluj County), Blejoi (Prahova), Bolintin-Deal (Giurgiu), Bucharest, Clinceni (Ilfov), Constanța, Ghiroda (Timiş), Joita (Giurgiu), Nicolae Bălcescu (Bacău), Oradea and Pitesti. The company works in Romania
with all major developers of industrial spaces, and the partnership with CTP – the largest player on the local industrial-logistics market, with over 3 million square meters of Class A and land reserve for another 4 million square meters – is described by the operator’s management as the central relationship. «We have almost 300,000 square meters, we operate in Romania, in Bucharest, Timişoara, Cluj. And CTP is our biggest partner», emphasized Alexandru Catană. The main industry for which the operator works is fashion, but the client portfolio covers both retail and the automotive sector. Reference names include LPP, ebouwie, CCC, Brico Dépôt, H&M, Deichmann, Selgros and Ford, according to previous information published by ZF. The combination of covered verticals positions Quehenberger as an integrated provider of logistics services for pan-European retailers consolidating their stocks in Bucharest to serve the entire South-East European region. The operator’s strategic logic is built on a thesis repeated in recent management interviews: Bucharest is the main logistics hub in South-Eastern Europe. «Within a radius of 1,000 km from Bucharest, there is a market of 100 million buyers. Because of this, Bucharest has in Romania, on the one hand, the Bucharest-Ilfov area, which is responsible for roughly 40% of consumption», explains Alexandru Catană. The arguments are amplified by two recent infrastructure elements: the full accession to Schengen, entered into force on January 1, 2025, which eliminated land border controls, and the expansion of the national highway network. «The infrastructure is terribly important. Now with Schengen and highways, we are in Vienna in 15 hours. Before, we only lost 10 hours at customs», said the same country manager. In parallel, the operator is expanding its regional presence following closely the CTP map. After the consolidated cooperation in Romania – started in 2017 – and the expansion in Slovakia, Quehenberger also debuted on the Bulgarian market. The first step was a 2,000 sqm storage space, later taken over by CTP with the acquisition of Transcapital, and in 2024 the operator relocated to a new 3,500 sqm facility in CTPark Sofia East, with a new expansion phase planned for 2026 in the same park. «We recognized CTP as a reliable and flexible partner with proven experience, especially through the experience of our colleagues in Romania. CTP’s partnership-oriented approach and professionalism ensured that we could achieve our goals together», stated Vesela Nikolova, transport and operations manager of Quehenberger Logistics Bulgaria, in a material published by CTP. The spaces taken over in Sofia were configured at the request of the operator – with additional loading capacity through additional ramps, a drive-in ramp for efficient operations and staff facilities – and the connectivity to the Sofia belt and the Trakia highway strengthens the positioning of CTPark Sofia East as a transit point between Romania and the Balkan markets. However, Quehenberger’s management places the market’s real opportunities at the macroeconomic level, in the absorption of European funds. «Romania will have a leap if it manages to access, to the greatest extent possible, this European money. Through the PNRR and the cohesion funds, in the next 10 years, Romania has 100 billion euros at its disposal. It is very important, with this money, if we manage to access it, we will have the opportunity to develop our industry, infrastructure, education, health, all these things are correlated», emphasized Alexandru Catană, who sees here an indirect tool for attracting foreign investors: «access to funds is also a business card in front of foreign investors.» A recurring theme of Quehenberger’s speech is that of the European «short chain» – a plea for relocating production close to consumer markets, which the operator directly links to its own growth potential. «I think Europe has a big advantage – it’s a big market, here is the money, here are the buyers, a very big buying market. I think it would be very important for Europeans to buy products from what we call the short chain, in which as many components as possible are used, raw material if possible from Europe, so that we keep the jobs here», pointed out Alexandru Catană. Romania, he claims, should more firmly defend the strategic sectors – automotive, steel industry, agriculture -, following the model of the recent American approach, which emphasizes local production. In this context, the recalibration of the local branch in 2025 – cutting 136 employees, decreasing turnover by 12.6% and switching to a loss – appears more like a repositioning in a transition cycle than a withdrawal signal. With solid partnerships with major industrial developers and an integrated network in 11 cities of the country, Quehenberger remains one of the essential 3PL service providers for retailers who use the capital as a platform for the 100 million consumers a day away.