Our Group CEO Christian Hallberg sums up another eventful year for Tempcon. You can watch the film HERE in Swedish on our own YouTube channel.
You can also take part in it below.
It is now time to sum up the business year 2023. Where has the focus of your development been during this period?
A lot has happened during the year. Above all, I want to talk about three areas that we focused a lot on; Sales, IT development and consolidation.
Within the sales area, we have created a coordinated sales group with participants from all companies who work together on new business and thereby create further growth. We have also clarified for both existing and potential customers which services we offer.
Regarding the IT area, we have continued to work to digitize our processes and integrate our customers’ orders into our systems. Today we are approaching 90 percent digital orders. It is work that we have invested extra hard in to create better control and reduce dependence on external system suppliers.
Work on consolidating our operations in order to realize synergy effects has continued during the year. For example, Tempcon Stockholm’s business has been consolidated into Klimat-Transport. In a similar way, Logex’s business has been transferred to Tempcon Norrland. The subsidiaries also work more closely together in joint organizations such as PL Frakt and Erling Andersson Åkeri, as do Klimat-Transport, Berneco and Syd Frys. After the turn of the year, Mörarps Frystransporter also becomes part of Tommy Nordbergh Åkeri at the same time that Berneco becomes part of Klimat-Transport. Through cooperation and consolidation, we can run a much more efficient operation and use the expert knowledge available in the organization in various areas.
Are there any special events within the group that you would like to highlight for the business year 2023?
A lot of exciting things are happening within the group in the future, but I would like to highlight a few things;
One is that Tempcon Norrland has won a large procurement regarding distribution and long-distance transport for various types of daily goods with colonial, fruit and vegetables, chilled and frozen throughout Norrland. This new assignment will be an important part of our continued development in Norrland, which is an important and growing market for us. The transports will run seven days a week, all year round. It is one of our biggest assignments in the group and we are very happy and proud of the customer’s trust in us.
It is also worth mentioning that we have recently started a building to expand Syd Fry’s facility in Hyllinge outside Helsingborg. The expansion will double the area and increase the storage capacity from 16 000 to 36 000 pallets. The expansion is part of Syd Fry’s investment in meeting the increasing demand for storage of frozen products. And we hope to be able to move in already at the beginning of 2025.
I also want to highlight that Widriksson’s business area Shyping will become its own company within the Group from 1 January 2024. The incorporation is part of the continued development of Shyping’s digital TMS platform as well as other services within digitization. It will be very exciting to follow Shyping’s development journey on the market.
Sustainability issues are a priority for Tempcon. What special investments have been made during the year to reach the group’s goals in these matters?
We work hard to continue reducing our climate impact. We have, for example, greatly increased the speed of the work to switch to completely fossil-free transport together with our customers.
We have continued to invest in electric vehicles, mainly in the last mile business and we currently have 17 electric vehicles in the group, two big and fifteen small. In addition, we have around 50 gas vehicles which also contribute to reducing our climate footprint.
We also see the effect of previous investments in solar cells where we are proud to be able to produce a large proportion of the electricity we use ourselves. After all, solar energy is both fossil-free and renewable, which means that it has a minimal impact on the climate.
What challenges for the transport industry do you see in general in 2023 and what is Tempcon doing to tackle these?
We are now in a recession, which affects the amount of goods for many of our customers. This makes it even more important for us to attract more customers who compensate for the reduced volume. This is important for us to be able to increase our occupancy rate and thus remain competitive on the market.
Another challenge we and the entire industry face is that our own and the world’s demands for a green conversion of our transports are becoming increasingly important, and both new working methods and costly investments are required. This places great demands on our entire business, but also represents an opportunity. Through innovative solutions combined with smart planning that reduces the climate impact of transport, we have a lot to gain. Not only in environmental benefit and customer satisfaction, but also in lower costs.
Transport and logistics have a major impact on the environment and society. How can Tempcon as a company contribute to the benefit of society?
Our goal is to move as much goods as possible with as few vehicles as possible. When we succeed in this, we contribute to reducing traffic on the roads, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and thus the environmental impact. At the same time, we also minimize costs and create profitability in the company. This is the value we as a company add every day!
In conclusion, I would like to take the opportunity to thank drivers, terminal staff, traffic controllers, administrative staff and other employees for another exciting year where together we have shown that with commitment and our shared knowledge we offer a credible alternative for temperature-controlled logistics services.