Frode Laursen’s strategy for the coming years could not be clearer: We want to expand our position as a strong logistics partner within our core areas: FMCG, building materials and recycling in northern Europe. The best way of realising this strategy is through optimisation and investment.
Costs have increased dramatically in recent years, and an imminent kilometre-based road tax in Denmark will make it more expensive to transport goods, as will increased wage costs. With the current collective agreements which have been signed for the coming years, we can see that if, in two years, we look back at wage developments in the Nordic region, wages will have increased by 18-25% in five years! This clearly has an impact on our business and pricing in the market.
A high-cost future requires a firm approach: Focusing on how we can do things smarter, cut to the bone and find alternative solutions that benefit our customers and us. However, we do not believe that this can stand alone, and with a solid operating economy and experienced employees, we also have strong growth ambitions.
Therefore, we are building 18,000 new square metres at our logistics centre in Handewitt near Flensburg, just as we expect to welcome more new customers to Frode Laursen in 2023. All within our core areas: FMCG and building materials.
“In both these areas, Frode Laursen is one of the companies that know most about goods and data flows in the value chains. We have worked with FMCG for more than 50 years, and our business is built up around being able to tackle the challenges related to these goods types,” says Thomas Corneliussen, who also emphasizes that Frode Laursen will continue to build new facilities in northern Europe:
“We have building plots in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, and we will likely start constructing a new logistics centre at one of the sites within the next couple of years.”