Hungarian road haulage and logistics group Waberer’s International has signalled its move into rail freight by acquiring a 51 per cent stake in Petrolsped Budapest. Petrolsped (PSP) provides rail logistics services mainly in Hungary and Romania, either directly or through its subsidiaries, Pultrans and PSP Cargo Romania.
Zsolt Barna, Waberer’s chairman and CEO, said that with the majority shareholding in PSP, the group “takes a significant step towards building a multimodal service portfolio, developing its rail logistics capabilities, and entering the specialised logistics segment that currently predominantly uses rail services, for example, agricultural and construction products.”
New markets to tap
Barna pointed out that “by integrating Petrolsped’s experience, customer portfolio and assets, Waberer’s will have all the necessary capabilities to become a competitive and significant player in the domestic and regional rail-based logistics market.”
He added that Waberer’s sees significant growth potential in this market segment, given “the new industrial and automotive investments in Hungary” but also because their existing customers are increasingly turning to low-carbon logistics services.
Strong regional presence
The Petrolsped Group posted a consolidated turnover of 53 million euros in 2022 and an operating profit (EBIT) of 3.8 million. In April last year, Railfreight.com reported that Petrolsped was behind the opening of a new intermodal railway terminal in Szeged, on the Hungarian border crossing with Serbia.
Petrolsped explained at the time that the new facility would relieve some pressure from the terminals in Budapest and the one in Curtici, near the Romanian border, which handle most of the cargo on the north-south axis.
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