By Magnus Paulin
That Sunday’s Euro
2012 victory was delivered on time and through Spain´s team effort
is indisputable. We can now only hope that a consequence of the joy
and positive energy that surged through the towns and squares in
Spain will help revive its economy.
One thing though
that has already become clear is that the Polish and Ukrainian
transportation industry will be reaping rewards from the events.
It is no surprise to
anyone that other global sporting events,
like Formula One, require sophisticated logistical solutions, a fact
that is underlined by the presence of DHL as one of the major
sponsors. However, even an event that does not have to move from one
end of the planet to another in a fortnight still presents huge
challenges and opportunities.
Apart from the
revenue opportunities created by the event
for major players like DB Schenker and their German Soccer Competence
Team
through to niche providers like Quehenberger Logistics, responsible
for temperature sensitive food transportation to the stadiums in
Ukraine,
the event has also had a large impact on the hosting countries and
their logistic capabilities.
One of the major
concerns in the years leading up to the
event had been the logistical challenges that faced Poland and
Ukraine, not just in providing for the tens of thousands of fans that
would arrive, but also in how to move them, as well as equipment (TV
and radio equipment, training equipment, uniforms, goals, special
catering, etc.) around as the venues were as far as 2 000 km apart.
This was something that was underlined by the UEFA Secretary General,
David Taylor when he said that “One of the challenges of this championship is
the distance between cities. But there is a geography, we can't move
cities, just people,”
Another fear
was that the astronomical sums splurged on these two countries would
leave them with amazing, but in the future underused, sporting venues
and little opportunity of recovering the investments.
The
size of the challenges they faced were
indisputable. In general, the overall cost of logistics
for Ukraine is estimated to be between 18 and 20 percent of its GDPwhich puts it on a par with developing economies like Vietnam.
Poland’s entry into the European Union has brought improvements,
however the latest logistics performance index from the World Bank rates Poland at 2.98 (1=low to 5=high) while most of their European
partners are at 4 or above.
However, it
would now seem that these fears were not just dealt with, but were
done so in a manner that bodes well for the regions supply chain
competitivity. In fact, the majority
of the billions
of dollars invested, 75% in the case of Ukraine, went into improving
the infrastructure of the roads, airports and rail traffic, whilst
the work done on the different sports venues was, to a large part,
from private investors.
This was highlighted
in a recent Financial Times article where the London based Capital Economics consultancy
concluded “The economic benefit of Euro 2012 for Poland and Ukraine
is more significant than is usually the case with major sporting
tournaments.”
For
Maryan Zablotsky, an analyst at Erste Bank,
it is clear that the transport industry is poised to reap the
greatest benefits, with air travel a strong second. Kiev, Lviv,
Donetsk and Kharkiv all hosted matches and, as a consequence, seen
their airports improved. “Air travel may see one of the biggest
developments as it has seen the greatest infrastructure change.
Hopefully new low cost carriers will enter Ukraine.”
In Poland the road
network has been a major focus for
investment, with the amount of modern highways more than doubling in
size to over 2 000 km. According to Marcin Herra from PL.2012, the
government organization behind the preparations in Poland, it would
have happened anyway, but would have taken much longer without the
impact of Euro 2012. He further points out that “These are
investments that change the quality of the functioning of a
country.”
The impact of this
has not been lost on the logistics
providers in the region. To Robert Dobrzynski, responsible for
eastern and central Europe at Panattoni it is clear that it will have
positive consequences. He said “Poland often lost business to
better connected countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic. In
many cases Poland would make sense as a [business] destination, but
the quality of infrastructure was so [poor] that investors would go
elsewhere,
The event has also
had other unforeseen effects. For several years now Ukraine has been
involved in negotiations with the EU to join the “open sky”
agreement. In a move to attract low-cost carriers and drive down
air-fares, the Ukrainian transport authorities operated a two-month
period of “open skies” for all carriers with a proper operating
licence.
Whether this will have a positive impact in the on-going negotiations
with the European authorities or not is too early to say, but it was
hopefully well received by fans eager to cheer on their teams as they
fought for supremacy on the pitch.
As we are revelling
(if you are Spanish) in the outcome of the final showdown, it is
clear that the event did not bring in the visitor revenues that were
forecasted, but at least it will leave a legacy that will increase
the logistical competitiveness of the region.
