Mars Logistics, which is the one of Turkey's leading logistics companies, despite the pandemic in 2020 and continued to invest in sustainable growth.
Mars Logistics Board Member Gökşin Günhan said that although the logistics sector, like many other sectors, is adversely affected by the pandemic, it is impossible to stop due to the nature of the sector, that the pandemic has caused permanent changes in the way of doing business, that they have implemented the remote working model with the already ready infrastructure and contactless. Günhan stated that they continue to meet the needs of customers by highlighting the Intermodal transportation model that enables transportation.
"It is not possible to stop due to the nature of our sector"
Günhan said that: “During the pandemic period, we have seen once again that the logistics sector and supply chain are of vital importance, and how important it is for logistics to maintain its existence. Therefore, although the logistics slowed down, its volume decreased, it never stopped. Like everyone else, 2020 was a difficult year for us. There was a decrease in our business volume in the second quarter, which also covers the first days of the pandemic period. Automotive and textile, which are the leading sectors for logistics, in parallel with the foreign trade of our country, slowed down in this period, but sectors such as packaging, food, hygiene and chemistry accelerated in the same period. Since we have determined the sector and customer diversity as a strategy, we have supported our customers at the maximum level in this axis shift. As the world started to get used to the new normal, our business started to return to its normal course as of June. We anticipate that we will end the year 2020 with a turnover of approximately 2.1 billion TL. Although 2020 was a year of unexpected events, our growth continued because of the nature of our industry, we cannot stop. Our teammates have contributed to the successful completion of this year. We also enlarged our team a little more this year. There was no decrease in employment, but an increase.”
Stating that they have made their investments based on the demands and needs of customers since January 2020, Günhan listed their investments as follows:
15,3 million € investment for the fleet
“We make our investments based on the needs and demands of our customers and work to improve and expand the service we offer. In this context, we invested 15.3 million € in our fleet in 2020.
On the other hand, we continued to develop our Domestic Distribution Channels service, which we launched in 2019, and we started 2020 by opening a 1,000 square meter collection transfer center in Eskişehir in January. Continuing our investments during the pandemic period, we opened two new warehouses in Manisa in April and took important steps in domestic distribution.
Our strategic plan for 2019 was to establish the infrastructure for the home-working model. By making a technology investment of $ 250,000, we quickly implemented the model we planned and included remote work in our business processes.
We continued our innovations by including the Marmaray Tunnel in our Halkalı-Duisburg line in May and we became the first company to use the Marmaray line in international export transportation.”
1 million $ investment in Solar Energy System
Saying that balances have changed all over the world during the pandemic process and this affects not only the way of doing business, but also the steps towards the conscious use of natural resources, Günhan said that: “We started the establishment of the biggest Solar Energy System project on the European Side approved by BEDAŞ in August, by investing $ 1 million. With the project being ready for use in November, we started to meet the electricity need of our Hadımköy warehouse from Solar Energy System panels installed on the roof. With the use of renewable energy, we aim to change our resources with environmentally friendly systems and to continue to realize the firsts by including our sustainability understanding in every field of Mars Logistics.
Domestic and overseas investments will continue in 2021
We aim to invest 20 million € in 2021 and expand our service network in order to strengthen our fleet. As always, be based on the demands and needs arising from stores in different provinces of Turkey will continue our investment and the transfer centers opening.”
Intermodal transportation, which is environmentally friendly and preferred due to the high amount of load transported at one time, has started to be more demanded thanks to its non-contact delivery and not being stuck at border gates, Günhan noted that as Mars Logistics, they will focus more on this issue in 2020 and stated that they realized its importance once again as the whole world and as Mars Logistics, they will highlight environmentally friendly transportation methods more.
Stating that their overseas investments will continue, Günhan noted that they plan to maintain Mars Logistics quality in important locations in Europe, and said: “In 2019, we opened a company in Spain, one of Europe's important logistics positions, and brought Mars quality together with our customers abroad. In 2021, we will open a company in another country in Europe. "