Romania cannot be competitive in Europe in terms of rail freight transport, given that the average speed is around 18 km/h, said Adrian Sandu, secretary-general of the Romanian Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACAROM), quoted by Agerpres.
“As priorities of our association – are put in a certain order: education, a dual system in universities, research and development. We need technical schools because we see more and more a lack of specialists in production, stabilization of the vehicle market, development of the infrastructure for both road and rail transport. We cannot be competitive in Europe in rail freight transport with an average speed of about 18 km per hour. We are at the bottom of Europe”, said Adrian Sandu at the Pria Logistics, Automotive &Transport event.
He stressed the need for local integration of components and suppliers in Romania.
“Both Dacia and Ford need suppliers as close as possible to the production plants, so as to avoid future problems such as those caused by pandemics or unfavorable transport conditions”, added the ACAROM representative.
Adrian Sandu mentioned as main players in the automotive industry: Dacia, with two plants and a logistics center, Ford, with two production facilities – one for engines and one for vehicles – “plus a lot of suppliers present on the Craiova platform”. Also, the third most important player is automotive component suppliers (600 companies), which generate around 68-70% of the total turnover of the automotive sector.
“The European Commission is putting increasing pressure on CO2 emissions and pushing the automotive industry towards forced electrification, not taking into account how the electricity to be consumed by future electric vehicles will be produced, not taking into account the adaptation of the freight transport system which currently uses mainly diesel-powered trucks and also not taking into account the adaptation of the transport and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the near future,” added the association’s secretary-general.
ACAROM – the Romanian Automobile Manufacturers Association – is a professional and employers’ association composed of companies operating in the automotive industry, associated to represent the interests of the automotive sector. ACAROM was founded in 1996 and is a public utility association. The members of the association are active in the design, manufacture, and marketing of automobiles, materials, components, modules, automobile parts, or perform services related to automobiles, as well as equipment for the manufacture and maintenance of automobiles.