The entry into the land Schengen from January next year gives courage to road freight carriers to expand to external markets and even consider opening branches in other countries. «We are groping for the option to cross the borders and open a branch in Germany now that there will be no more borders», Alexandru Dobra, the development director of the Sorcani company, told ZF. The company transports general cargo on European routes, the main markets being Germany and France. The trucks leave loaded from Romania to Europe and return with general goods to the country. The company participated in tenders abroad and won new contracts. Sorcani has customers from the pharma, automotive industry, consumer goods, paper, agriculture. Imports represent over half of the turnover, the company transports general goods, from food, to medicines or cigarettes on imports. «The year 2024 came with a confirmation of our plans, exceeding 100 million lei turnover, plus 26-27%. At the business level, we only do this, namely: transport and logistics services». The goods carrier Sorcani from Sibiu, a company controlled by the entrepreneur Mircea Barbu and founded in 1993, one of the most dynamic transport companies on the local market, reported last year business of 88.4 million lei, an increase of 14% compared to from the previous year, according to mfinante.ro. «We anticipate that direct, unrestricted access to the Schengen area will encourage the exchange of goods and open new opportunities for expansion on European markets. We expect that the direct access, without restrictions in the Schengen area, will stimulate the exchange of goods and open new possibilities for expansion on the European markets», Irina Tănăsescu, general manager of Mega Trans Logistic, said for ZF, which estimates an increase of up to 10% of the turnover as a result of the efficiency of the operations with the entry into the land Schengen. Data from ONRC show that a total of 41,972 companies were active on the local road freight transport market in 2022, which had 146,603 employees, compared to 45,592 companies the previous year, with 156,000 employees. All companies operating on the road freight transport market accumulated total business of 67.7 billion lei in 2022, up from 58.8 billion lei the previous year. «As a Schengen member, Romania becomes a reliable partner on the European market. Facilitating access to the markets of Western and Central Europe creates expansion opportunities for transport and logistics companies,» Cristian Dolofan, CEO of the Dolo Trans carrier, with a business of 118 million, told ZF. euros last year. The company focused on the transport of vehicles, it had contracts with Pirelli, Michelin, Samsung, LKW Walter, but also transported for Mercedes Benz, in addition to Dacia cars from Mioveni, but also Peugeot and Citroen vehicles for Trust Motors, according to the latest data Without the controls at borders, fuel costs, additional taxes or additional driving hours are reduced. Thus, the profitability margin increases, and competitiveness on the European market becomes more pronounced, he added. «With the elimination of border controls, Romania becomes an important logistic hub in the region. Moreover, international companies will be more attracted to partnerships with local carriers, which can lead to an increase in the volume of transport and to the diversification of our services». Transport is the only sector in the economy, apart from IT, that has a surplus balance, a plus of 3.6 billion. euro only in the first nine months and about 6 billion. euro last year, this branch also being the biggest contributor to the positive balance of services, according to data from the BNR. Practically, last year, the transport branch contributed almost half to the surplus of the balance of services, according to ZF calculations based on public data. In the last ten years, the transport surplus has doubled, while the surplus was only 2.8 billion euros in 2014.
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