Business

Turkiye’s role in logistics to Europe is increasing due to the Red Sea crisis

Boltas Logistics CEO Selman Coban stated that Turkiye’s logistics importance has increased due to the Red Sea crisis and other cyclical reasons and said, “Many companies regarding access to Europe have various initiatives to create different channels. We anticipate that this will create important opportunities for our exporting companies and have a positive impact on the logistics industry.”

Due to the problems in the Red Sea, there are serious problems in access from the Far East to Europe. This situation increased the importance of Turkiye, especially in terms of logistics. Selman Coban, CEO of Boltas Logistics, one of the leading names in the logistics industry in Turkiye, evaluated the company’s 2024 targets, as well as the opportunities that will arise in transportation from the Far East to Europe, to DUNYA Newspaper.

What kind of 2024 awaits the logistics industry in Turkiye from the perspective of opportunity and crisis?

Last year, there were significant decreases in profit margins in the logistics industry. In such a conjuncture, there is no longer a comfortable playing field as there was in the last two years. However, every crisis has its own opportunities. As Boltas, we are trying to take the necessary steps to benefit from these opportunities.

There are serious problems in access from the Far East to Europe due to the problems in the Red Sea. We anticipate that this will create significant opportunities for our exporting companies and will have a positive impact on the logistics industry, providing significant benefits for us. Many companies have various initiatives to create different channels regarding access to Europe. We are also involved in these initiatives.

By creating different routes, we started working on corridors that will provide our customers with faster access from the Far East to Europe. We think that there will be very important opportunities here in 2024 as well. We think that the economic environment will revive again in 2025, and even that there will be a movement before 2025. Although interest rates are high, we can see that there are important opportunities for investment not only in Turkiye but also in Romania, Italy and Germany by taking advantage of the decline in product costs.

“We will strengthen our presence in the maritime route”

To what extent were Boltas’ 2023 targets achieved? What are your 2024 predictions on a company basis?

We successfully completed all the targets we set for 2023, enabling our company to reach a growth of 25%. By completing our purchase of a warehouse in Italy, which is one of our strategic goals, we have further strengthened our presence in Italy for many years with a warehouse with a closed area of 5,500 square meters.

As part of our globalization strategy, we undertook a very important transformation for our 45-year-old company in April and started to provide all of our services under the Boltas brand. There has been a serious contraction in the market since the second half of 2023. The contractions experienced especially due to the decrease in demand from Europe caused a very critical impact on its margins. We expect this effect to continue in 2024. Therefore, as Boltas, we made all our preparations within the framework of this foresight. We can say that 2024 will be more of an investment year for us.

In this context, we want to strengthen our presence in maritime transportation, which we started last year with our TurkLog partnership, and enable exporting companies in Turkiye to have easier access to the foreign market with our warehouses in Italy, France and Germany. It is among our plans to invest in a new warehouse in Germany in 2024.

How do your transport modes work for both Germany and other countries in Europe?

I can say that Boltas’ markets are primarily Germany and Italy. We offer intermodal service mainly to Italy. We reach Trieste with Ro-Ro flights departing from Pendik, Mersin and Cesme. We can reach Germany with many different transportation modes. As a company that carries out its operations with 90% intermodal solutions, we are one of the logistics brands with the most access channels to Germany in Turkiye.

We can reach Germany with our own block train service, which follows a land route from Tekirdag, via the train line via Trieste, and with our operations carried out with our own tow trucks via Trieste. Because intermodal service is not only connected to Turkiye, we can also offer intra-European operations and carry out transportation from Germany to different countries within the European continent.

Where does Boltas stand in the equation of sustainability, green logistics and intermodal transportation?

As Boltas, we are one of the most important players of intermodal in Turkiye today due to the investments we have made in terms of sustainability. We are a company that has been providing intermodal services for more than 30 years and evaluates better service alternatives for our customers with our experience in this field. We have achieved significant efficiency increases by strengthening our technology and intermodal infrastructure in the last two years.

“We will use artificial intelligence more actively in logistics”

What process are you in in technology and digitalization investments?

One of the goals in the field of technology for 2023 was to launch Robotic process automation. Within the scope of our agreement with UiPath, we commissioned two robots and increased efficiency. By seriously transferring our repetitive tasks from teams to robots, we have implemented a move that will positively affect our organizational efficiency. As of the first quarter of 2024, we have created the infrastructure to provide comprehensive traceability and estimated arrival notifications. We will begin to use Artificial Intelligence significantly in planning and vehicle tracking services in 2025.

Source: Dunya.com / Prepared by Irem Yildiz

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