Business
13:09 13 March 2023
Post by: WBJ

Raben Group in 2022 – Successfully facing challenges

With the acquisition of Austria's Bexity and entry into its fifteenth European market, investments into the fleet and infrastructure in many countries, new international connections, and ambitious sustainability projects, there is no doubt that Raben Group is still on a growth path.

Raben Group in 2022 –  Successfully facing challenges

Over the past year, the challenges threatening the global economy have not dissipated - only their nature has changed. The difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have been replaced by a scarcity of raw materials, record price increases, and raging inflation that has affected virtually everyone - consumers, service providers, and manufacturers from every industry. In addition, the TFL industry has been facing a driver shortage for quite a long time. Above all, however, Europe was faced with the great human tragedy caused by the war in Ukraine, which shook the world in many different ways.


"It was undoubtedly a very good year for Raben Group. Austria joined us in the first quarter; now, the Raben family has more than 11,000 people in 15 countries. This is a very satisfying [sign of] growth - not only in terms of increasing the reach of our operations but also in developing and improving our services. It was possible thanks to our customers, business partners, suppliers, and our team of People with Drive - they all contributed to this success. At the same time, just across our border, we are witnessing a situation that should not be happening in free Europe, yet it has become a reality. Ukraine is part of our business, and we are trying to support our employees by getting involved in various aid initiatives," said Ewald Raben, CEO of Raben Group. "In these difficult times, as a company, we care not only about the people but also about the environment. That is why we implemented various sustainability projects with future generations in mind last year, often engaging our customers [in the process]. We believe that together we can do more."


In 2022, the structure of the sectors served by Raben Group remained virtually unchanged and included food (26%), automotive (20%), technology (19%), chemicals (16%), trade (11%), and non-food FMCG (8%). The range of offered services was also similar to the year before: road transport dominated (65%), followed by contract logistics (11%), FTL and Intermodal (9%), Fresh Logistics (6%), sea and air (3%),  4PL (3%) and others. Despite numerous challenges, the logistics operator recorded revenue exceeding EUR2 billion.


Raben in Europe


The main event of the past year was the further expansion of Raben Group through the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Austrian company Bexity in February 2022. As a result, Raben now has depots in 15 markets and added more than 500 employees and 16 locations to its European family. 


The company has also invested extensively throughout Europe, opening new warehouses or extending existing facilities in Hungary, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, where a new zero-emission warehouse is currently under construction and plans to be operational this year.


In parallel with the infrastructure development, Raben Group continued its extensive project to expand and reorganize its connections throughout other parts of Europe. This endeavor was launched in 2018 in Germany and entered a crucial phase in 2021 with the inclusion of nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic coast. Reacting to the economic situation and the needs of customers, but also taking into account its acquisitions and investments, the operator integrates the distribution networks of the acquired companies into its system and launches new lines. As a result, by the end of 2022, Raben already had more than 600 international connections within Europe, including nearly 180 so-called groupage line hauls running between Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. In the last 12 months alone, the Group launched more than 40 new routes in this important European region. This result was made possible also by opening small branches in each country to direct international volume exchange. 


The CEE is becoming the strongest area and has overtaken the hitherto prioritized traffic between Poland and Germany, which, despite the first signs of the crisis, managed to close with an almost 10% increase in transported volume. This is all thanks to the nearly 130 daily groupage connections, which we constantly monitor to respond to changing volume flows," summarizes Łukasz Lubanski, Raben Group business development director. "Most importantly, however, in the second half of last year, we started significant infrastructure investments in Czechia and Germany, which in the coming quarters of the new year are expected to have a profound impact on the company's development and ability to handle exports and imports from Germany to countries like Italy, Austria, Greece, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. It is a response to market and customers' expectations in the changing economic climate and a shift in global logistics chains." 


By investing in new connections, Raben will reach more places in Europe directly—not only the larger economic centers but also the smaller ones.  


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