The Greek fresh produce exports have highly benefited from the recent inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen Area, which took effect on January 1st, as the great delays that were occurring at the border crossings between Greece-Bulgaria and Bulgaria-Romania have disappeared. Mr. Panayiotis Tsichlakidis, owner of the Greek logistics company Tsichlakidis Group, which is the exclusive partner of Lidl for transporting all Greek fruits and vegetables to the supermarket's warehouses in a series of Balkan and Eastern European countries, sees enormous delivery acceleration.
"The inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen Area has made our lives easy," says the Greek entrepreneur. "Previously, we would have to wait for bureaucratic controls at the border crossings between Greece and Bulgaria for up to two days. This was especially the case on weekends and during festive periods. It was causing delays in product deliveries to a series of other countries, like Hungary, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and other neighboring states, while the deliveries to Romania could be burdened even more due to additional border controls. Now all these problems have moved past. We pass the borders without stopping."
Mr. Tsichlakidis cannot assess if this development will increase the demand for Greek fruits and vegetables, but he already noticed a notable increase in year-on-year deliveries to Lidl. "We started eight years ago with 300 trucks, and currently we use 4.000 trucks per year to carry all the requested volume of Greek fruits and vegetables to Lidl's warehouses in Balkan and Eastern European countries."
Tsichlakidis Group is setting up new premises to facilitate its transport tasks with the upcoming opening of a spacious logistics center in the industrial area of Aspropyrgos, outside Athens. As Mr. Tsichlakidis describes: "Our original base is located in Imathia, but our new location, next to the port of Piraeus and much closer to the citrus-growing areas of the Peloponnese, will enable us to handle the transport of many products much more easily and quickly. It is fully designed and equipped to host a great number of daily truck passages. The first 1.500 sq. meters of refrigeration chambers will be put into use at the end of January, and an additional capacity of 2.700 sq. meters will also be operational by the end of 2025."
For more information:
Panayiotis Tsichlakidis
Tsichlakidis Group
Tel: +30 233 204 8200
Email: [email protected]
https://tsichlakidisgroup.gr