«Tremendous potential»
Vasilis Karakoulakis is the president of Greece’s FDL Group, a leading national contract logistician. He wants to convince more companies to outsource their logistics activities and is aiming to expand into the Balkans region.
What’s your group’s core business, Mr Karakoulakis?
As one of the subsidiary of Foodlink, the only logistics firm listed on the alternative market of the Athens stock exchange, the FDL Group is one of the leading companies in the contract logistics sector in the country. We have warehouses and distribution centres at nine sites in Greece and concentrate on serving the consumer goods and foodstuffs industries. Our services include controlled storage and transport temperatures, as well as preparing returns, planning recalls and packaging / re-packaging solutions.
How are consumer goods developing these days?
There are still great opportunities in logistics in Greece, as many firms still don’t outsource their logistics activities – though this is slowly changing now. The trend towards e-shop logistics allows commercial enterprises to become more focused on their core business. Over and above this the FDL Group, besides its logistics services, also offers solutions such as order entry, stock management, merchandising, distribution and billing.
FDL is also present in Cyprus. What challenges do you face there?
Our Cypriot subsidiary Diapo provides integrated logistics services to companies from a broad range of segments based in every corner of the island. Seasonal fluctuation in the consumer goods sector – the population doubles in the five summer months – represents the biggest challenge there.
Have you got any plans to expand to other countries?
The FDL Group has always been interested in Balkans markets, and one of our goals is to establish a presence there soon.
What are the group’s targets for the next three years?
Our goal is to double turnover in three years. To achieve this we’ll focus on increasing organic growth and our clientele, enter into new forms of partnership and markets (for example the Balkans) and by making acquisitions.
