1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202 
A PAN-EUROPEAN OPERATION
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Managing a fleet of some 1.800 trucks and their drivers scattered across Europe is the job of Karoly Csiszar, director of Waberer's transport and forwarding division. We meet in offices that formerly belonged to Hungarocamion and, from the outside, look every inch your stereotypical Communist era dilapidated concrete blockhouse. ("They are our inheritance," I'm told). We head up to the bustling traffic office where Csiszar outlines the operation.
Currently the firm is sending up to 200 trucks a week to the UK: we account for 10% of its business. Germany, France and the Benelux countries still represent the biggest market for Waberer's, taking around 65% of its traffic and Csiszar reckons that around 40% of all its transport jobs never cross the Hungarian border.
Drivers are frequently away from base for a month at a time: "There is a principle that drivers have to return to Hungary every three or four weeks, however if they wants to stay away longer then they're allowed to do so." Csiszar adds that drivers can be changed no matter where they are in Europe; the company's buses pick up drivers from designated points and drop off replacements.
Costs, inevitably, are carefully monitored with the majority of the fuel for Waberer's international fleet bought in Luxembourg-only 3% of its fuel is bought inside Hungary.
But despite careful cost controls there are events outside its sphere of influence: the introduction of the German Maul added an estimated €14m to its annual costs at a stroke.