GRAMPET Group launches rail freight operations in Slovenia through Train Hungary – the Ljublijana Branch

The first transport was carried out earlier this year, using its own resources and Slovenian manpower

Bucharest, February 25, 2021 – GRAMPET Group announces the launch of Train Hungary – Ljublijana Branch operations in Slovenia, thus expanding its rail freight activity to ten countries in the region.

“The expansion in Slovenia is part of the strategy to streamline and interconnect the services we provide to our international customers. Our operators are present with transport licenses / safety certificates in eight European networks and thus achieve a complete circuit of freight exchanges, which results into a stronger regional interoperability given better connectivity,” says Gruia Stoica, President of GRAMPET Group – Grup Feroviar Roman. “The first weeks of operations in Slovenia have generated very good results, in line with the projections of our entire international freight activity of the GRAMPET Group.”

The division, which includes operators GRUP FEROVIAR ROMAN, TRAIN HUNGARY Budapest, TRAIN HUNGARY – Zagreb Branch, BULGARIAN RAILWAY COMPANY, EURORAIL LOGISTCS doo Serbia, GRAMPET CARGO AUSTRIA and TRAIN HUNGARY – Ljublijana Branch, provides logistics solutions through a fleet of 20,000 wagons and 400 locomotives.

“Overall, these operators generate a significant part of our annual turnover, the most important results being produced in Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria, where we keep growing steadily, from year to year,” continues Gruia Stoica. „The experience and know-how that the GRAMPET – Grup Feroviar Roman team exported into each of these countries has proved to be essential for consolidating our presence on the European rail freight market. Over time, we have diversified our presence and services provided to customers, expanding our activity to other areas the GRAMPET brand is established in, thus becoming a high-profile foreign investor in countries around the region.”

In 2013 the group took over the Hungarian Debreceni Vagongyár factory, a leader with tradition in the European rolling stock repair market. Recently, GRAMPET announced the acquisition of the 28-hectare land on which the Debrecen Vagongyár factory in Hungary is located, for EUR 6.5 million. The investment is part of the ambitious EUR 14 million that the GRAMPET Group will invest over the next 5 years for the facility development.

“All these operations are profitable and increase their contribution to the group’s consolidated results every year. For us, this success is a clear proof that Romanian entrepreneurs can compete on an equal footing alongside leaders of their specific industries, on international markets. We are optimistic that there are important opportunities for regional consolidation and growth in the coming years, on the background of major infrastructure projects announced at European level and the global post-pandemic recalibration of supply chains. Our financial objective is to increase the international division’s contribution to 30% of the annual turnover over the next five years, by consolidating our existing activities and also by entering new markets.”

GRAMPET Group is the largest railway group and private logistics operator in Romania and Central and South-Eastern Europe, employing some 7,000 people. Founded more than 20 years ago, it became the first multinational with Romanian capital, expanding in turn in Bulgaria (2004), Hungary (2005), the Moldova Republic and Germany (2010), Austria and Slovakia (2012), Croatia (2016), Serbia (2018), and Greece (2019). It is currently analyzing expansion to six other European markets – Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

In the summer of 2019, an international jury nominated the GRAMPET Group as Regional Champion of the Year at the Emerging Europe Awards hosted by the London headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The award covered all industries in 23 emerging countries.

The unique challenges that came with 2020 have successfully tested the structure of integrated services and strategic infrastructure that the Romanian brand has developed at regional level, marking new performances for the GRAMPET brand, namely:

• Grup Feroviar Roman received the first Single Safety Certificate from the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) allowing it to operate in two countries, namely Romania and Greece. This was the first single safety certificate in the European Union granted for more than one country.
• Electroputere VFU Pașcani reached the final stages of testing its first produced train, which will enter the local and international market in the first part of this year.
• Roserv Oil took over the industrial platform of RAFO Onești refinery with an objective to develop the largest logistics center in Moldova area, which could generate up to 600 jobs.
• Assologistica (a representative association for the logistics industry in Italy) and the profile publication Euromerci acknowledged the GRAMPET Group for Innovation in Business Internationalization with the “Logistics’ Group of the Year” award.

About GRAMPET Group

Established almost 20 years ago, GRAMPET is today the largest private rail freight and logistics operator in Romania and Southeast Europe. Its 16-company structure is strategically designed to span the entire chain of rail transport solutions and products, thus offering clients an integrated experience at the highest level of competence: freight railway transport, building, repairs and upgrading of rolling stock, spare parts production, lease of rolling stock, freight transhipment, logistic services, as well as innovative IT solutions for railway operators.

Its flagship company Grup Feroviar Român (GFR) is one of the main rail freight operators in Romania and Southeast Europe. Currently, over 20% of traffic is international, with GFR offering complex logistic solutions to rail sector customers. GFR is a member of all representative international organizations and has cooperation agreements with both state railway operators (BDZ Cargo, UZ, CFM, PKP Cargo, ZK, RCH, HZ Cargo, ZBIH) and private railway operators from Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, and Germany.

The Group’s companies Reva Simeria, Electroputere VFU Pascani, Reloc Craiova, and Electroputere VFU Craiova account for an important share of the Romanian rolling stock repairing market.

In parallel, the group carries out an intense activity of research and development of technical solutions meant to offer clients a transparent and real-time experience of services to which they have access. Thus, the GRAMPET Group launched an e-client portal for the first time in Romania, which facilitates the management of relations with client companies, from placing an order to invoicing.

Its subsidiary Roserv Oil, which took over the industrial platform of the RAFO Onești refinery in the summer of 2020, focuses on the national development of logistics terminals both on the container side and warehouses for petroleum products.