Romania's B2B Parcel Delivery Market at 40 Mln Euro in 2006

Romania’s business-to-business (B2B) parcel delivery market will reach 40 million euro (USD50.3 million) this year, a top official of express delivery services company TNT Romania, a subsidiary of the Dutch TNT Express, said.
“The B2B market will be around 40 million euro by the end of this year. The market was about 25-30% lower last year,” Bogdan Dragotoiu, TNT Romania country customer service manager, told SeeNews in a recent interview.

The market is in the midst of an adolescent growth phase, with an increasing degree of awareness of the delivery solutions throughout the companies active in Romania, he said.

Dragotoiu said he estimates the country’s parcel delivery market will grow by more than 40% in 2007, mostly due to Romania’s accession to the European Union on January 1 next year.

“Romania’s accession to the EU will mean a lot, starting with next year. Transport to-and-from the EU will be seen in a more open way. Customs barriers and duties will disappear and we will have an easier job,” he said.

TNT Romania is preparing for this by establishing links to European partners and adapting its fleet for the future, Dragotoiu added.

“We still have a fast-growing market. We do not have a saturated market, it is not settled yet. Growth will slow down in three-to-five years to more normal levels,” he added.

TNT Romania claims a 49% share of Romania’s business-to-business deliveries market.

“We estimate growth for our company’s turnover in line with the market this year, around 35%,” Dragotoiu said.

The company reported turnover of 20.9 million euro last year.

“We want to keep our position as market leader. We have been market leader for four years in a row. DHL was the previous leader, but they had the advantage of a presence on the market since 1986,” Dragotoiu said.

The company gave no profit or loss projections for the current year.
TNT Romania’s competitors in the country include DHL International Romania, the local arm of German-based global courier firm DHL and Trans Courier Service (TCS), the local agent of U.S. delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS).
TNT fully acquired the Bucharest-based courier company Romcargo in February 1999 and renamed it TNT Romania.

TNT Romania has 390 employees based in 20 offices in the southeast European country of 21.7 million people. It has a fleet of over 180 vehicles, and cargo terminals at the airports in Bucharest, Timisoara and Cluj.

TNT Express, established in 1946, is a subsidiary of the Dutch postal, express and logistics company TPG. TNT Express employs 40,000 and delivers 3.6 million shipments weekly to 220 countries worldwide.

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