International Logistics Final Paper by Aliaksey Narko for Warsaw School of Economics

1. Master Studies: International Business
International Logistics
Prof. Krzystof Rutkowski
How do you see the current and future
role of Central-Eastern European
countries and firms within global logistics
systems?
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
Aleksey Narko 057830
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2. “With rising private consumption and fast-growing external
and internal trade, the CEE region has displayed high
potential for the sustained growth of the transportation and
logistics market.”
Praveen Ojha, Datamonitor
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
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3. Introduction
Globalization is a great power. Everything is moving nowadays: people, products, services,
simply everything. Barriers such as borders, government restrictions and many others
influencing businesses and trade all over the world. Economies of the countries are benefitting
from this great move as well. Growth is rapid and results are incredible. CEE countries are a
good example of such a progress.
Since ancient times CEE countries were playing an important role between the major trade
players from West and East, North and South. Goods such as amber and silk were transported
through these lands, finally reaching their final destinations.
Later on the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union have changed the
situation in the Central and Eastern Europe countries. During the period of communism most
of the CEE countries were politically and economically enslaved to the Soviet Union,
therefore they were having many problems with economic development and even now, after
many of them joined EU they have problems with 55 years lost. The centrally planned
economies fell and the transition to the market economy started. “Trade liberalization,
economic restructuring, privatization, capital inflows, and the gradual adaptation of legal and
administrative standards to market-oriented practices have improved economic structures
dramatically.”(Rutkowski,2009)
With the enlargement of European Union the wave of restructuring and changes became even
more dramatic. Thanks to the priceless positioning in-between old European members and
Russia as well as other Asian countries CEE states started to perform the role of a bridge.
Moreover there are several other factors influencing the development of logistics sector in
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
those countries such as big foreign trade areas, strong, growing economies, relatively large
domestic markets, huge increase in Foreign Direct Investment and many others. These
elements make such countries as Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and other states as well as
companies in the region very competitive at the European and even global logistics sector. As
a matter of a fact we can see that this sector is growing rapidly. According to the Datamonitor
it was estimated to around 184$ billion in 2008 and was just under 250$ billion in 2012,
which is more than 70% growth just in 4 years.
New low-cost opportunities as well as democratization and capitalization in CEE countries
has encouraged many multinational corporations that already have a significant business
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4. presence in the region to move to the new area.As of the date of the article CEE Change;
Central and Eastern Europe Make Waves, the average GDP for Central and Eastern European
countries was at $6,300 versus $25,200 for Western Europe. However the economies of CEE
region countries are growing much faster than those of the old Europe. This is partly to the
fact that there are many manufacturing companies outsourcing to the region. Therefore with
the growth of production logistic sector is getting bigger as well. Currently 10 out of 27
European Union countries are the CEE states. At the same time EU account for around 10%
of the world logistics market, this percentage seems to be small, however this percentage is
constantly growing and CEE countries have a great potential in improving these results.
Current Situation
Most of the CEE states are now members of the EU, coalition which was formed in 1958 and
since then has grown in size and includes 27 states. The largest enlargement was in 2004,
when 10 new members joined. At the beginning the population of EU was around 2,3 hundred
million people and after the last enlargement reached over 4,9 hundred million which shows
the increase in the number of residents and therefore market size in more than 2 times. But the
size and population are planned to grow in the near future. Such countries of CEE as Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro want to join the
consolidation; however they will be able to do it only after fulfilling specific EU criteria.
Due to the centralized location CEE countries play an important role between Central
European countries such as Germany, Great Britain, France, Austria, Spain, Italy, Netherlands
and other and their major partners such as Sweden, Finland, Russia and many Asian states.
After European Union Enlargements many old EU members started to lose their positions in
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
manufacturing activities and logistics as well. Because of the relatively cheap labor, access to
resources and technologies such countries as Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary started to
gain the leaderships positions very quickly and now are placed very high amongEuropean
players. These countries seem to be the best for taking into the consideration their
geographical location when it comes to foreign and local investment. "As wages in Western
Europe increased and borders disappeared there has been a steady migration of labor-related
activities into Eastern Europe—countries such as Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and even as far
east as Turkey," says Erik van Egmond, managing director, Penske Logistics Europe.
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5. The CEE countries which are members of the EU
When it comes to the specific industrial sectors it can be easily found that the automotive
sector is one of the most rapidly growing fields in the area therefore attracting many logistic
companies looking for new opportunities. Moreover region is situated between EU and
Commonwealth of Independent States (includes Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and
some other) which makes it a strategic location to export different types of goods East and
West. Entry of the companies with production facilities in CEE states gave them the chance to
benefit from lower tariffs, less barriers and reduced value-added tax.
Now I will look at the current situation at the logistic sector of the most powerful players from
the CEE area such as Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic.
Poland
Poland has lots of competitive advantages when it comes to the logistic prospects such as
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
localization, big domestic market with a population around 40 million people, strong
economy, empowered by the EU funds subsidies, skillful labor force and relatively low costs.
The per capita GDP according to the World Bank is over 13400 US dollars. According to
UNCTAD data, foreign direct investment inflow to Poland in the years 2005-2010 totaled
some USD 91.7 bln (compared to Lithuania’s same-period FDI of some USD 7.6 bln, Latvia
– some USD 6.4 bln, the Czech Republic – some USD 37.7 bln, Bulgaria – some USD 39.5
bln and Hungary – some USD 30.3 bln).
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6. source: UNCTAD
There are many international players present in the Polish logistics market such as DB
Shenker, Raben, DHL as well as local ones which makes it very competitive however one
important point of consideration when it comes for the new entrants is the transport sector.
The network of railroads is well-developed in Poland and the number of goods transported by
trains is constantly growing. The air transport market is also not standing at one place. Lot
airlines is gradually modernizing its facilities and park of planes. At the same time the
handling capacities of the Baltic ports is rising.
Nevertheless there are a number of problems connected to the transportation issues in Polish
logistics. Although Poland has invested great amount of money to improve its motorway
roads, especially after joining EU and for the recent Euro 2012, lack of expressways between
main centers of economic life, especially in Eastern Poland is still visible. Moreover those
roads which are built according to the Western standards are becoming overcrowded and their
traffic capacity decrease. Compared to average density of motorways and express roads, those
in Poland are less dense: 80 km/km2 compared to the 123 km/km2 average in European Union.
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
Considering railways the major difficulties include poor condition of rail infrastructure and
worn out stock which influences in a bad way the attractiveness of transporting goods as well
as overall competitiveness of the railway services. Moreover there is lack of speed railway
lines which benefit logistic operations a lot nowadays. When it comes to services there is a
similar problem with Polish ports in Gdansk, Gdynia, Szczecin and Swinouscje which
facilities mostly date back to the Soviet Union times. There is also insufficient access to the
ports both from the sea and land.
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7. Hungary
Hungary as well as Poland is proud of its highly-qualified and cost-efficient labor force.
Besides region is characterized. The efforts to reform Hungarian economy over the past
eighteen years have facilitated this process of integration and have made Hungary one of the
most liberal economies in the European Union which facilitates the easiness of making any
kinds of business here. Besides being in the center of Europe country has borders with 7
countries which include 4 European and 3 non-European member states. Hungary has three
international road corridors going through its territory which maintains easy access to Balkans
and Europe as well as good connections between 11 logistic districts and 13 logistic centers
located in the focal points of the international movement of goods.
As a result of intensive construction work along the main transport corridors, motorways and
trunk roads have reached the national borders or will reach them in the short run, ensuring
faster and safer transportation. With an extensive road system, centered in the capital-
Budapest, Hungary has the most developed highway network among the new EU member
states.
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
Source: Ministry for National Development and Economy.
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8. Hungarian government is also gaining a lot from improving the facilities and environment for
logistics in the country as this service is the most outsourced in the country therefore bringing
great profits. This fact can be proven by the presence of all the major international players at
the Hungarian market of logistics such as Maersk, UPS,TNT, GLS and others. Moreover
Hungarian government is ready to provide the logistic investment projects with several
beneficial subsidies such as tender supporting job creation, development tax allowance,
training and direct cash subsidy.
Czech Republic
Czech Republic seems to be one of the leading players in the logistics sector among the CEE
countries. The situation in the industry has changed totally with joining of the European
Union which can be seen only by the fact that road transportation between Germany and
Czech Republic increased by 40%.
With total population of 10 million people logistics and all the transport and related services
contribute to 10% of the country’s GDP. Most of the goods (around 70%) are transported via
and motorways, while 28% of them are moved with the help of the rail roads, which are
mostly specializing in transporting bulky commodities and are losing their share year after
year.
Increased demand for logistic services in the country is changing the market tremendously.
Due to the fact of increasing use of roads, especially during recent years the problem with
congestion appears and brings problems with the environment (Noise and CO2 emissions).
However the changing trend brings also positive aspects for the customers such as growing
competition which drives the quality up and prices down and therefore development of more
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
fast and precise systems.
Government is supporting the logistics sector by heavily subsidizing the sector. Only between
2006-2010 1.6 billion czk was available for it and this number is growing. All these money
are kept to develop public terminals, construction and set-up of intermodal routes.
All these facts increase the attractiveness of Czech Republic as the logistic and industrial
location therefore bring more and more investments.
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9. Industrial and logistic zones in Czech Republic. Source: European Logistics Association
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
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10. Future role
Further economic unification of the EU zone will lead to even higher increase in intra-
regional trade between the strong and well-developed economies of the Western European
countries, possible new entrants and “energetic tigers” of CEE region. The trend of moving
production and therefore logistic facilities to the CEE seems to be growing in the future,
governments will be gaining more and more profits from these actions and therefore able to
invest this money into modernization of logistic routes and fighting with environmental issues
which seem to be the major problem in the region nowadays. It seem like the Mediterranean
and Baltic Sea ports which are leading trade partners with many countries from all over the
globe will show tremendous development together with the rapid economic growth of
Northeast European countries such as Poland. States from the Central and Eastern Europe
region will increase their globalization trends and cooperation with new partners not only
from the nearby areas but also from far away.
CEE states will be the leaders in European logistics and will continue fighting for the pedestal
among each other benefitting the customer with better offers considering price, speed, quality
and other factors.
International logistics Paper. January 18, 2013.
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11. References:
DHL Logbook. Logistics in Eastern Europe. Available from:
http://www.dhldiscoverlogistics.com/cms/en/course/trends/europe/europe_east.jsp
EU Infrastructure. CEE: the next logistics hotspot? Issue , Roads & Rail. Available from:
http://www.euinfrastructure.com/article/CEE-the-next-logistics-hotspot/
O’Reilly, Joseph (March 2007). CEE Change: Central & Eastern Europe Makes Waves.
Inbound logistics. Feature stories.
Available from: http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/cee-change-central-and-eastern-
europe-makes-waves/
Rumler, Miroslaw (2009). CEE logistics: Facts and Future Prospects. Prague. Available
from: http://www.elupeg.com/doc/documents/CEELogisticsFactsandFutureProspects.pdf
Rutkowski, Krzysztof (2009). Best Practices in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
Warsaw: School of Economics SGH.
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