Interview of the week – Holleman, Bulgaria

Tell us about Holleman Bulgaria. Who owns the company?

Holleman Bulgaria is part of the Holleman group which is privately owned 50% by a German and 50% by a Romanian shareholder. The group has own offices in Romania, the mother company, and daughter companies in Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, Hungary and Moldavia. The mother company and me are shareholders in Holleman Bulgaria OOD.

Tell us a few words about your experience, your expertise and your business in general.

I started in January 1999 when I joined a big shipping company in my town Ruse, Bulgaria. The company was very active on the Danube performing a big volume of transports by own and chartered vessels.

In 2000 we started to develop the transports of oversized machines in the Danube including transshipments and customs procedures. Then in 2002 – 2003 we started to offer also the trucking to and from the ports, i.e. our kind of door-to-door solution.

In 2006 I decided to “switch” the industry and learn more about the special transports by road. This is how I came to Holleman. Now we are running our own fleet of trucks for heavy and oversized transports, more than 70.000 sqm open storage areas and a regular line on the Danube between Eastern and Western Europe.

Where are your offices located?

The main office is in Ruse and the rest are in Sofia and Varna.

Tell us about projects that you have handled recently.

At the moment we are passing through a very busy period and luckily for us we hardly feel the impact of the crisis. We are quite busy with our main business – logistics of agricultural machines for Bulgaria, Romania and Greece and wind generators in Ukraine as well.

Since December a big part of our tucks is involved in the transportation of construction machines like excavators, pipe-layers and bending machines for the new gas pipeline in Bulgaria, a business which will keep us busy also in the coming weeks. The successful start of this activity was thanks to the good cooperation with our colleague and friend Mr. Alessio Bianchi from the Italian member of THLG, DCS Liburnus Project Srl.

Are there any particularities in project cargo forwarding in Bulgaria, such as weather restraints, customs regulations etc?

Since Bulgaria joined the EU back in 2007 the regulations are less compared to the time before, especially from customs point of view. But we are facing many other problems like bureaucracy, bad infrastructure and black economy.

Due to the fact that the road permits in Bulgaria are really expensive and we still do not have permanent permits, a lot of companies are moving goods with wrong documentation or even without permits at all, which distorts the market from freight point of view.

Which are the main industries served in Bulgaria?

Unfortunately there are not so many big projects in Bulgaria and the market is more on spot base. But our main industries are the agriculture, energy, construction, light industry and mining.

Which are the main ports used for serving Bulgarian mainland?

For us a key port is the one in our city – Ruse. This is the biggest Bulgarian Danube port, only 60 km away from Bucharest, which gives us the great possibility to serve both the Bulgarian and Romanian markets using it. The other main ports are the Black sea ones – Varna, used mainly for import, and Burgas, mainly for export. 

Is special transport a competitive sector in Bulgaria? How do you ensure that you will stand out?

The sector becomes more and more competitive due to several factors. Firstly, the number of local companies is increasing, secondly due to the huge number of Romanian and Turkish trucks entering the market. Unfortunately, as I said, due to lack of big projects and saving costs for the permits, the rates are very low, especially for single transports.

Our big advantage is that we are members of two good groups – Holleman and THLG which gives us the opportunity to generate and share business between us and offer special transports worldwide – something which is impossible for the small local players. Of course we keep a very high level of modern equipment, facilities and insurance coverage as all this can convince the big clients that we take our job seriously and that we are responsible. 

What made you join the industry?

That is a good question for me personally. Ever since I can remember, I wanted to join the shipping industry because my father was master of a vessel on the Danube and I grew up with the idea that my work will be connected to this big river. Which, at the end, happened. Now I cannot imagine to work in another sector and I am happy that my son wants to step in my shoes willing to start his logistics education next year.

What do you like the most about your business?

The most interesting side of our business is that we often have to create a completely new solution for our clients as there are almost never identical transports which keeps us in a good shape. It is a highly competitive business and we need to follow the tendencies and take good and timely decisions for our clients and our development.

Who should be approached in Holleman for inquiries?

The best way is to send an enquiry by e-mail to our common email account: [email protected]