Raben Investment in Groupage Transportation

As part of its large-scale development series, Raben opened its new cross-dock facility in Dunaharaszti, just south of Budapest. Due to the investment of approximately EUR 7.5 million, the area of the former building was expanded by 75%, enabling the company to manage significantly increasing volumes and to exploit the growth potential of domestic and international groupage transportation.

A statement by the company points out that with its technical solutions, the new warehouse also serves sustainability and the reduction of the ecological footprint of the company group.

In 2020, Raben Trans European Hungary Ltd. decided to implement a large-scale development strategy. The Hungarian business unit of Raben Group, which is already present in 15 European countries, handed over several state-of-the-art facilities over the past two years: a 30,000-sqm temperature-controlled warehouse in Dunaharaszti and a 10,000-sqm building in Pécs in 2021, and a 3,000-sqm regional logistics center in Győr in 2022.

The newly opened cross-dock center plays an important role in groupage transportation. Pallet shipments picked up at different points of the country are collected here. After grouping them according to their destination, they are loaded on the same vehicle, a so-called linehaul, so that they are transported in the most efficient way, spending most of their journey in the cargo space of one single truck. A further re-loading operation is necessary only on the last few kilometers.

This method of road transportation is of great importance in Raben Group’s Europe-wide business. These international lines that create direct connections between major economic regions play more and more significant role in the past few years. These make it possible to deliver shipments on shorter routes, often without touching big central depots – with optimized use of cargo capacities and reduced specific emissions.

According to the Managing Director of Raben Trans European Hungary, Csaba Árvai, such a strategically located cross-dock facility is crucial for the domestic and international network, and at the same time, it contributes to the future growth of the groupage transportation business. The current calculations of the company show that with this additional 3,400 square meters, it owns enough cross-dock capacity to cover the volume increase assumed for the next five years.

With the new warehouse, Raben’s cross-dock capacity adds up to more than 7,000 square meters in Dunaharaszti. The former building was suitable to handle 2,500-3,500 pallets of goods a day. With the expansion this volume may increase significantly, together with the number of trucks served daily – this latter figure by 20-30%. The facility is equipped with 70 loading docks, suitable to accommodate all types of cargo vehicles, while ample interior space provides simple handling of goods. With higher rotation speed of shipments, loading and unloading of trucks will become faster and more accurate, that means further improved service standard in both domestic and international groupage transportation. Optimized space usage also helps more efficient application of workforce and equipment, too. As a unique feature, the building includes a special temperature-controlled area (box in a box) to ensure safe cross-docking of cooled or heated products, too.