Vladan Stojkovic, Managing Director of Union Sped – We are opening our own logistics center in Ugrinovci in 2018

Union Sped has been providing its clients with a full service in the field of international and local transport, logistics solutions and reliable support in international business since 2010.

In his interview for eKapija, the Managing Director of the company, Vladan Stojkovic, talks about the business results in the past period, but also announces big plans for the future, among which is the construction of the first logistics center owned by the company, as well as an expansion of the rolling stock.

eKapija: What have Union Sped's business results been in this year and what are the company's plans for the coming period?

– Union Sped has been making positive results ever since its foundation in 2010. The indicators for the first quarter of 2017 also show that this year will exceed the last one and come close to the best one so far, the year 2015. In the first three months of 2017, we had a growth of revenues of 33%, a growth in the number of services of 26.5%, as well as a growth in the number of clients of 14%.

Regarding the plans, our company is constantly developing. In 2010, we started the forwarding business, and we entered the field of international truck transport the very next year by purchasing a new business entity.

We started with 20 people, and Union Sped has since developed into a company with over 100 employees. We are a member of FIATA and IATA associations, and we currently have 15 branches in the biggest industrial centers in Serbia.

eKapija: An important investment is planned for this year?

– Yes, Union Sped currently rents storage facilities, in locations in the western and southern part of Belgrade on the E-70 highway route. After seven successful years, this year, we are entering the project of constructing our own logistics center on a location of Ugrinovci, and the building parcel has already been secured. The aim is to have that logistics center built and opened next year.

eKapija: From which fields do the most important clients of your company come from?

– The biggest part of our business are forwarding services and truck and railway transport of goods. Union Sped is currently one the five leading forwarding and logistics companies in Serbia looking by various parameters. We are recognizable in the market for our cooperation with companies from the energy sector.

Of course, aside from clients from the field of energy, we are cooperating with partners from the industries of food, wood, IT, consumer goods, automotive industry, pharmaceutical industry and all the other fields that have the need for logistics or forwarding services. Each year, we are recording a growth in the number of clients and services provided.

eKapija: In your opinion, what is the current state and the perspective of the local forwarding and logistics market?

– The competition in Serbia is very big and it seems that it is getting stronger all the time. This practically devalues many services as a consequence of a constant race for the market and the profit.

Foreign companies have established strong positions in Serbia and I believe that small companies will find it increasingly harder to remain in the market.

Consolidation, just like in other fields, will be inevitable in both forwarding and logistics. Globalization is something we must count on in our profession in the coming period.

Furthermore, in order to survive in the market, companies will have to opt for one of the two possible ways – either to unify a wide range of services or to specialize in one service segment, which is probably a harder way.

eKapija: How important would the realization of the announcements of the establishment of the customs union and simplifying the border crossing procedures be for your business?

– Our country's road to the European Union and the steps it makes to that end also point to the direction of further operations in the field of transport and providing logistics services.

The companies operating in the EU are subject to far easier and simpler procedures than we are. In that respect, each initiative towards facilitating the operations is more than welcome. The customs union on the regional level would allow for a much better flow of goods and services.

eKapija: Is there room for improving railway transport in our country?

– Certainly. The railway transport in Serbia is nowhere near as well utilized as in the EU countries, and the opening of borders and the arrival of private operators should stimulate the growth of this transportation segment.

For the sake of illustration, Union Sped currently has more than 200 rail cars on the railways of the Republic of Serbia a month. When it comes to the railway transport, we are planning to increase the number of rail cars in the coming period and we have been negotiating with certain companies interested in being private operators on our railways for some time now.

eKapija: How much of an obstacle is the underdeveloped infrastructure?

– The local infrastructure is definitely not of the highest quality, and there's no trade or production without quality infrastructure.

It's clear that investments in infrastructure stimulate economic growth and are a condition for creating new jobs. There have been considerable efforts in that field in Serbia lately and, if this continues, I believe that the entire flow of goods through Serbia will be much quicker and more efficient.

Borders remain an issue, and the removal of those barriers should be the priority.

eKapija: What is Union Sped's cooperation with the Customs Administration like?

– Cooperation with state institutions is realized directly, as well as through cooperation with the National Association of Forwarding Companies and Agents, of which we are a member. I am pleased to say that there's been visible progress in that segment, which is the result of both the Association's work and the positive changes regarding the regulations and the approach of the employees in state institutions.

Union Sped has the status of an authorized recipient and the status of an authorized sender in the customs procedure, and we are also in the process of acquiring the status of an authorized business entity, as the highest degree of cooperation between business entities and state institutions.

We are one of the first companies authorized to be able to issue the international transit document T1, while deploying our own guarantee. The company has EUR 6 million in banking guarantees for the jobs of customs mediation and is one of the three leading companies in Serbia in this field looking by that criterion.

eKapija: Where does the majority of merchandise transported by Union Sped from Serbia go to and where from does the majority of it come to Serbia?

– Union Sped has focused on certain European countries, as well as on several countries in our surroundings, such as Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland and most of our transport is oriented to and from those countries.

eKapija: Aside from road and railway transport, Union Sped provides its clients with water and air transport as well. What are you experiences in that field?

– We are satisfied with the development of our sector of sea and container transport, which we've been working on intensively for 3 years now, while recording an increase of transported units year after year. In this period, we've signed numerous contracts with suppliers (ship operators and maritime agents), which provide us with certain favored prices and equipment.

Air transport is also an important part of our operations and our business has been constantly growing thanks to agreement with the leading cargo airlines. We are experienced in “just in time” jobs – handling charter flights.

eKapija: How hard is it to find good, well trained employees in our market?

– It's very hard to find educated employees in our country. The problem is both in the lack of skills and necessary logistics knowledge and in big differences between the expectations of job-seekers and what the market can offer at the moment.

We were very lucky to attract employees form big foreign companies, who have brought their experience and standards. Our desire is to speed up the development of all our business segments by implementing those standards. Furthermore, we are putting a lot of effort into educating the employees. More than 30 of our workers have been trained as customs officials at the Customs Administration.

By implementing the standards ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, we guarantee the quality and the reliability of our business, as well as taking care of the environment and work safety. We try to be modern and to use that to the benefit of the company and all its employees.

eKapija: Where do you see the company in 2020, on its 10th anniversary?

– With all respect due to our big international rivals, our goal is to make Union Sped a recognizable brand, which guarantees the quality and the safety of our services.

In 2020, we will already have built the said logistics center, and we are already considering another location so that we could start a project of increasing our capacities in that year. Furthermore, we plan to update our truck fleet as well.

Milos Vlahovic

Union Šped d.o.o. Dobanovci

Vladan Stojkovic

logistics services

logistics center in Ugrinovci

Union Sped operations

forwarding in Serbia

international transport

FIATA

IATA

customs union

Customs Administration

National Association of Forwarding Companies and Agents

customs mediation

ISO 9001

ISO 14001

OHSAS 18001

logistics

container transport

logistics center Union Sped