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Issue 8 2018 - Freight Business Journal


///SCANDINAVIA


No storms in the Nordic region


In a world of increasingly violent economic ups and downs, the economies of Finland and the Scandinavian countries are an oasis of comparative tranquillity. And even in a post- Brexit world, they remain reliable, dependable traders with the UK


Leman launches Normanton conquest


Danish-owned UK/Scandinavia specialist Leman is consolidating its operations on a new main hub in Normanton, near Leeds following its acquisition of UK operator Maru last year. Managing director Jesper


Thygesen said the move was needed due to the increase in volume, adding: “We hope that the new depot will see us through the next many years of expansion.” Leman has taken a 10-year


lease on a 108,000sq ſt building where it operates its road, air and sea and logistics services with a total of around 100 staff . The new site also off ers 10,000sq ſt of high- quality offi ce space and excellent links to the region’s motorway network, along with plenty of loading space, 12 covered dock bays and a large parcel of land adjacent to the building for future expansion. Thygesen explained: “We


chose Normanton mainly for its ideal size and confi guration as well as its strategic distribution


location. We were merging two depots so being able to bring all our staff under the one roof was brilliant. The location close to Junction 31 of the M62 was another attraction. We send all of our trailers out of Hull and Immingham, so it’s great to be have easy access to those ports.” The hub move follows a period


of rapid expansion for Maru, which three years previously had itself bought airfreight


(Finlogistics), based in Kerava, 35km north of Helsinki and Kotka, and which off ers airfreight, sea freight and logistics solutions, doubling the forwarder’s presence in the country. Thygesen explained: “The


Leman Group has a clear strategy of growing through merger and acquisition and organic growth, which is underlined by four acquisitions in the past three years at group level. Currently we are integrating the latest acquisition - Maru International, our third acquisition in the UK since 2015.” He points out that since 2013 Leman UK has grown from


realistic to double our turnover from where we are now.” Leman continues to off er daily


and weekly services to all Nordic destinations and currently runs over 400 loads between the UK and the Nordic countries every month. Leman has its own set up in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland which means that it can deliver higher quality service through its own resources, Thygesen considers. Finland remains the second


largest country within the Nordic region aſt er Denmark “and we continue to see volume increases in this area”, says Thygesen. However, following the


acquisition of Maru, Leman now off ers weekly services to the Baltics and Eastern Europe, on top of an already growing network of European destinations. Leman considers that its UK/


specialist RSH in Heathrow and European road forwarder, Dalpa in Leeds. In Finland, Leman has also purchased FL Services


an £8m company to a £40m turnover business: “Clearly it is diffi cult to keep growth at such a high rate, but we believe it is


Nordic traffi c is pretty much balanced and it sends only a small amount of empty trailers due to seasonal volume increases. Thygesen explains: “We feel that it is important to keep a balanced trade in order to minimise wasted costs which will impact our customers.”


Europe’s gentle giants


Even in times of turmoil, the Swedish economy rarely gives cause for undue concern. sduring the Great Recession early this decade, the country’s economic fl ame continued to burn steadily, if somewhat subdued. Now, with the global economy


recovering, the country is on something of a roll and looks set to perform well in the third and fourth quarters of 2018, according to the Focus Economics website. Consumers are more


optimistic and manufacturing and the service sector are both expanding, it says. Looking ahead, growth is


expected to remain at around 1.9- 2.1% over the next couple of years, thanks


to healthy investment


and export levels. The only cloud on the horizon is a tight labour market and somewhat weaker residential investment. The OECD forecasts that growth will remain strong as


global demand and a weaker Krona continue to boost exports. Exporting sectors will invest further to meet rising demand. It too expects housing investment to contract against the backdrop of house price declines. The political outlook remains


rather uncertain, aſt er centre- right Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson failed to secure suffi cient


parliamentary


support, prompting caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to instead form a government. However, Sweden is hardly likely to approach Italian levels of instability and the expectation is that things will settle down again in due course. The country remains a major


exporter and quite a large chunk of its economy is dependent on big-bulk exports such as timber, forest products or motor vehicles. It sucks in a lot of manufactured imports, too,


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