Time critical logistics provider, C4 Logistics, has opened an office in Budapest, Hungary in a strategic expansion of operations that anticipates the need for expedited services as the automotive supplier network is tested.
Hungary is now home to a number OEM facilities making high quality vehicles. Audi is now building the sporty, high-end TT Roadster at its plant in Györ, and Mercedes has recently announced that it is adding the CLA Shooting Brake at the Kecskemét plant. Across the border in western Slovakia, Jaguar Land Rover is building a new assembly plant in Nitra.
Sébastien Barth, managing director of C4 Logistics (left), believes that the shift in the type of cars being built in the region will have a knock-on effect for logistics companies operating there.
“So far, in Hungary, much of the logistics supply chain has been components shipped by rail transport from German car plants, such as Audi’s Ingolstadt, to their sister plant in Hungary,” he said. “But as the manufacturing industry in Hungary and surrounding countries like Slovakia expands, it is likely that the local supplier network will not be able to keep pace, and unexpected events can interrupt any supply chain, no matter how robust it seems. When that happens, having a reliable time-critical service is essential to keep the assembly line running,” he explains.
Around 70% of C4’s business is from the automotive sector already has bases in the UK, France, Germany and Romania. In October last year it started providing electric vehicle (EV) maker Bolloré with track and trace technology on the inbound delivery of parts to its Bluecar assembly facilities in France and Italy.
