E van Wijk Logistics, the successful story that continues for 30 years in Romania
2022, is a year full of meaning for us, a year that reveals the continuity of the E van Wijk Logistics business, in Romania, from one generation to another, for 30 years. It was not a straight road, there were many ups and downs, but every kilometer we traveled took us closer to what we are today: a reliable supplier, a sustainable company that provides security to its employees, care to the community it belongs to, attention to the environment, a company that provides high quality services to customers and their partners.
This year we celebrate 30 years since the start of the company’s activity on the Romanian market. It has been three decades of success and challenges, goals achievements and long-term relationships built with our colleagues and clients.
30 years is a beautiful age that says a lot about a business. Entrepreneurship, the way of doing things “differently”, passion, internal unity, but also cohesion at group level contributed to this success.
All started with passion
In the difficult economic context in which Romania found itself in the early 1990s whilst looking back to the history of E van Wijk Logistics, we see, first of all, passion – the main element in everything we do. If you are passionate about what you do, no obstacle is a barrier between you and your goal, on the contrary, it is an opportunity to overcome yourself.
The story began with the arrival of Mr. Ad van Wijk to Romania, with humanitarian aids for the areas heavily affected by the country’s economic situation at the time. In those circumstances, the opportunity arose to meet his future Romanian associates. That’s how it all started.
International Transport E van Wijk, later named Logistic E van Wijk, was founded in 1992, as already mentioned, in a most challenging time. In the first months, the emphasis was placed on national transport and later, the basics of the international transport activity has been laid, all these with only 2 trucks, 2 drivers and the company’s shareholders.
In all these years, the company has remained people-oriented, being involved in many projects aimed helping people from disadvantaged social backgrounds. Over time, we have been able to offer a helping hand to those in need, no matter where we were, what country we crossed, or where we were going. Humanity has been in the DNA of this business for 30 years.
What have the last three decades taught us?
Time has taught us to keep our balance in such an unpredictable market. In the 30 years of activity, we have grown as a business, as a team, we have developed the portfolio of services provided, we have increased the number of trucks and the storage capacity.
From the beginning, the company wanted to do things “differently”. We are proud of our achievements, of our entire team, of every client who has crossed our threshold and who has stayed with us all this time.
Over the past three decades, we have steadily improved our freight and logistics services, based on our extensive experience, market requirements and the feedback of our customers. Above all, we want to develop close relationships with our customers and partners, because regardless of the field in which a company operates, everything we do is with and for people.
We have a representative fleet, which tells our story on the road, at all time. We constantly invest in it, being aware of the impact our activity has on the environment. We have increased the fleet from the starting, reaching over 350 trucks at group level which travel more than 33.5 million kilometers yearly.
From reduced storage capacities at the beginning, we have come to provide logistics services in warehouses that have a storage capacity of more than 54.000 sqm, from which almost 10.000 sqm have temperature controlled options. We offer our customers integrated and customized logistics solutions, according their requests, including warehousing, groupage transport, (inter)national distribution and customs services. As a group, it employs 800 enthusiastic employees, generating a turnover of more than 100 million euros/year.
Global Economic Outlook
The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a global economic shock, leading to steep recessions in many countries. After a major downturn of the global economy in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and despite renewed lockdowns in some parts of the world the global economy is expected to rebound in coming years. Logistics service providers are also growing above average, due to extra storage and warehousing activities associated with e-commerce.
Most recently the following macro trends with specific relevance to our logistic business have been relevant:
- Pressure on the logistics sector: labor shortage, congestion, CO2 reduction, increase in transport volumes and increasing legislation like the Mobility package;
- Professionalization of logistics within (east) European countries;
- Changing gateways: Increase in the supply of goods from China is changing the game in how western Europe is supplied with goods. New corridors and gateways arise, also due to the ongoing war in Ukraine;
These trends in combination with ongoing price pressure on fuel, raw materials and food make companies like ours, optimize the management of streams, in order to densify the flow of goods.
Companies are focusing within their regions on getting the needed economies of scale.
A promising future
2022 seems a year full of uncertainties and challenges. At the beginning of the year, the economic outlook was encouraging and things were starting to recover from the pandemic period. However, the current geopolitical context in Europe has important economic implications, some of them being already visible. The consequences of rising inflation and increasing resource costs are some of the consequences already being felt by everyone.
Being a sustainable company and part of an international group, we are confident that no matter how many obstacles arise along the way, we have the necessary support, the right professional team, the vast experience and the necessary knowledge to overcome these difficulties.
We deliver: reliability, trustworthiness and loyalty. As promised!
It is said that “in history we see the past, the present and the future”. Because the story of E van Wijk in Romania started well and the time reveals a continuous evolution, the future is one with perspective. We have a long-term, sustainable vision that will help us achieve our goals in the years to come.
Current CEO of the group, Mr. Ewout van Wijk, representing the 3rd generation of the van Wijk family, together with Paul Muresan, representing the 2nd generation of the Muresan family, make sure that they are closing the gap between present needs and future challenges.
Ewout: “I consider it very special that our families are working together already for 30 years. Our common norms and values kept us always together and enabled the succession to the next generation. Together we defined a clear strategy for the future which is focusing on the success of our customers and development of our employees. We will keep the sustainable entrepreneurship which we inherited from our fathers to guide our company into the future and execute our strategy. All according our slogan: As Promised”.
Paul: “ I am proud to have taken over from my father, Mr. Mircea Muresan, the duties and responsibilities as a shareholder in the Romanian E van Wijk companies. We will have to be prepared to deal with a different world, understanding future business dynamics, creating short-term goals to sustain a long-term focus. Together with my partner Ewout, I have a special attention on the human factor in our companies, trying to find the right balance, motivating and guiding the team for the years to come.”
As a family business we strive for long-term continuity. We do this by focusing on a yearly healthy growth, autonomously and through acquisitions. In order to minimize dependencies, we aim for a healthy spread in customers, geographical regions, industries and logistic suppliers (charters).
We are working to reduce CO2 emissions, because we want to join the club of companies within Europe, who have succeeded in reducing their CO2-emissions from transportation and logistics activities by more than 20% within 5 years.
We invest in education, talent development, and give people the opportunity to grow in their professional career. We are taking further steps to automate and simplify the customers processes involved of using our logistics services.
IT technologies such as control tower technology is needed to help to overview the complete network, optimize the asset distribution and utilization and optimize each region separately by its local hub.
Network densification also helps to make use of more sustainable forms of transport.
Our future goals are directly related to our contribution to customers success, to ensuring the long-term well-being of employees and community and additional measures for a cleaner environment.
E van Wijk, for 30 years, on the road near you.
