French logistics provider Gefco is strengthening its position in Central and Eastern Europe and showing interest in supporting Ford activity at the former Daewoo plant in Craiova, Romania, according to the Business Standard Daily.
Ford intends to start production there in 2009 following its purchase of 72 per cent of Daewoo Automobile Craiova from the Romanian government earlier in the year.
Gefco Business Manager for Automotive, Emmanuel Arnaud, would not confirm the company’s interest in the Ford plant but told Automotive Logistics that Gefco was now ''a major actor in the automotive Romanian market”. He went on: “We are in contact with the Ford team and have already proposed innovative logistics schemes for inbound logistics and for outbound flows via the Black Sea for export.”
Should Gefco win the contract with Ford, its Romanian business could exceed the estimated 30 per cent growth in turnover for 2009, worth up to €31m ($40m).
The Craiova plant will make the new B-Max, one of six new models Ford is introducing to the European market. Annual production is set for 300,000 units by 2012. Ford will also produce the Transit van from next year.
Gefco already supports Romanian companies such as Dacia, and has seen its turnover in the country double over the last few years to €261m.
