Analysis of industry development dynamics in Poland
Freight forwarding and transport services market
Since the beginning of the 1990s, there has been faster development of domestic freight forwarding in Poland, associated with the formation of a consumer market. The following phenomena influenced the market development:
• closer integration of Poland with the European Union (60% of turnover),
• “import” of EU standards (initially, suppliers arrived with foreign corporations; from the second half of the 90s, an increasingly higher standard offered by companies registered in Poland can be observed),
• entry of foreign capital.
The above changes led to the emergence of two types of companies:
1) those continuing to develop forwarding activities (in the scope of transport organization, insurance, customs advice), conducting traditional forwarding activities;
2) those developing a network of regular connections, entering IT more broadly, and transforming into logistics operators.
Transport and forwarding services are largely provided by the same entities. In addition to the transport of the shipment itself, which is the essence of transport, companies also offer its organization, which, for example, in international relations also includes customs matters, warehousing, packaging, insurance, and consulting in the selection of the appropriate route and means of transport in terms of costs and time. Transport can be carried out by car, but also partly by rail, ship, or plane. The organization of transport and consulting in the above scope is precisely referred to as freight forwarding. Companies can also specialize in the transport of various types of cargo: parcels, general cargo, heavy loads, and dangerous goods. Generally, their scope of operation is varied: regional (local), national, and/or international. In the case of international reach, specialization in specific countries is most common. Only the largest transport and forwarding groups have a European network (in land transport). The detailed scope of these companies’ operations and their financial results can be tracked based on the ranking that has been published for 3 years in the “Rzeczpospolita” supplement: “Automotive-Transport-Forwarding”.
Among the 57 largest companies analyzed in the 1999 ranking (revenues above 10 thousand PLN annually), the majority combined international and domestic operations (51). It is also possible to distinguish centers of transport and forwarding activity related to economic activity in a given area and good infrastructure conditions. These include: Center (Warsaw and surroundings, Mszczonów, Łódź), Greater Poland (Poznań – Gądki), Silesia (Gliwice, Katowice), Coast (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot).
Another interesting area of analysis may be the origin of capital and the form of ownership. Only 7 companies declare a state form of ownership; the remaining 50 are private enterprises within the meaning of the law. From a management perspective, state capital still dominates in some of them because they are companies after commercialization that have obtained the status of a private enterprise (joint-stock company). The group of the largest included 19 companies with foreign capital. The domestic market is perceived as the most interesting and developmental – primarily the distribution of general cargo and parcels, as well as logistics services.
The largest companies in terms of revenue value (in thousand PLN) are presented in Figure 1.
It is also worth noting that 33 of the largest (57) enterprises see their main source of revenue in the transport of bulk goods, 13 companies – in the transport of parcels and general cargo, and as many as 18 companies cite Poland as their main area of operation. 46 enterprises use cars for transport.
Analyzing the share of foreign capital, it can be noted that German and Dutch companies dominate. The largest concentration of these companies occurs in the central-western region (Poznań, Gądki), the capital region (Warsaw and Piaseczno, Janki), the central region (Bełchatów, Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Kutno), and the southern region (Katowice, Częstochowa, Bytom, Zabrze). The locations of company headquarters coincide with economic centers and thus indicate the points where the cargo flows of these companies’ clients converge.