Hamburg-based transport and logistics services provider a. hartrodt has added a new office to its European network. The company has set up its own unit in Slovakia, appointing Dusan Kapral as country manager. 

The 42-year-old will report to Sebastian Endt, regional managing director for the Eastern Europe region based in Prague (Czech Republic). Dusan Kapral brings extensive industry knowledge from nearly two decades in management positions at various international logistics companies, most recently he was CEO at a Slovakian moving and logistics specialist.

He has set out an ambitious goal of leading the development and stabilisation of the Slovak market for a. hartrodt. Previously, a. hartrodt’s team in Prague supported customers in Slovakia. Kapral takes over the existing business, as negotiations are much easier to conduct locally than from the Czech Republic. The local manager, who has an established network in Slovakia, plans to hire four to five experienced employees within the first year.

In close cooperation with customers and vendors, Kapral aims to set up competitive solutions for the local market. The range of services offered by a. hartrodt Slovakia includes all products for transport and warehouse logistics. Although the EU country is comparatively small with a population of 5.5 million, it has “many distribution centres in the heart of Europe”, according to Dusan Kapral.

The market expert names key industries: “The automotive industry has a strong weight, followed by consumer goods, machine engineering and chemical plants.” The most important foreign trade partner is Germany, ahead of the Czech Republic. “Our supply chains also extend to Hungary, Austria, Croatia or Slovenia,” says Kapral.