T. Jurgeleviius, head of UAB “Hegelmann transporte”: diligence leads us

You have been its director since the first day of monscrime. Remember the beginning of the history of Hegelmann transport, what kind of people did you meet at that time?

When the German Hegelmann family decided to open a transport company in Lithuania, I received a call from a friend in Latvia asking if I wanted to participate in the process. Kaunas is the heart of Lithuania and the city where I live. It is convenient for the markets of Kaunas due to its convenient geographical location.

I didn’t know much about transport at that time, so I talked to a few colleagues who worked in this business, it’s true, only a small amount worked at that time, I decided what is important when starting a business, then I’ll move on. We got the first tractor, then two more, and that’s how the history of Hegelmann transport in Lithuania began. During the year, our car park grew to fifteen trucks, my colleagues from Germany joined me. In the first years of our activity, after the arrival of one of our shareholders, Anton Hegelmann, we worked in a small office in Kaunas.

mon pamau pltsi, tow park grew, many employees. Every year I participated in transport exhibitions, but in the beginning no one took a serious interest in them. Only when we bought several dozen cars, and the number of them grew every year, did we want to change.

Your first office in Kaunas was 66 square meters. m of area. Finally, you couldn’t fit in anymore and had to move?

The premises became too big for us. Although at the time of the new construction, 1000 sq. m area, office on Agronomija Street, we had already bought a plot in the place where our administration building and logistics center are located today. We had a dream to build a logistics center, a modern office, but the design work started later, after ten years. That’s what happened.

First, we will build 3000 sq.m. m area logistics center, office building, we started working actively and deepening the intricacies of the logistics sector. We were not new to the transport sector, but logistics was new to us. Soon we will build a second logistics warehouse, after a few years we should be ready to go. mon became stable, strong and remained so until iol. At present, we have 21,000 square meters in the Kaunas district. m area logistics center.

What kind of activity did the Hegelmann group in Germany have?

After the start of our activities in Lithuania, the members of the company in Germany had a lot of leeway, made decisions, later we made bolder decisions ourselves with Anton Hegelmann, who came to work in Lithuania: five samples, one tow. Yes, the decisions were risky, but we believed in what we were doing. Let’s get trust and support. Besides, after all, competence, confidence, knowledge all come with experience.

Started operations in Lithuania, Hegelmann transport was one of the smaller transport companies, although the competition never stopped where are you now?

The transport sector is very important in Lithuania. Manufacturers were constantly surprised at how many heavy vehicles Lithuania buys, considering the number of inhabitants. There are many transport companies in our country, some of them have been operating for 25 years or more. At the beginning, our activities were small, but we grew and even grew much longer than the companies working in the sector.

How has the geography of your customers changed over the years?

Our main clients were German and French companies. After a decade, we expanded to Poland, where our truck fleet was at one time even larger than in Lithuania. At the moment, both the client circle and the volume of activity are growing in Lithuania, because in Poland, after the tax and economic situation has changed, it is more and more difficult to work. As for the entire Hegelmann Group, it has expanded and opened offices in more than 25 countries, including Europe, the USA, Asia and Africa, and has more than 5,800 trucks in its fleet.

currently, 26 nationalities are working in the Mons department in Lithuania. Have you been an international company since Monday?

Employees speaking different foreign languages ​​were very important to us: some could communicate English, others French, some German or Italian. We were looking for an employee and we found him. And even now the company has managers and cultural workers. Part of Lithuania comes to study: if they can combine work and studies, or immediately after they start working in our company.

In Lithuania, Hegelmann is not alone.

Yes, we separate different activities: transport, expedition, service, ferry, tunnel and train ticket purchase service for freight transport, insurance services, etc. The solution allows us to manage risks more effectively and it is easier to monitor and evaluate the performance of each area.

From Monday, the company will start offering individual solutions. Why is he needed and needed?

In the beginning, we worked 24 hours a day. And I myself worked twelve or even fourteen hours, I almost lived at work. Customers knew that they could reach us at any time, and this was one of our advantages. We tried to implement such orders that others could not. Fruits or perishable products like cargo, customers liked us.

In Europe, there has always been a customer who needs a service now, at any time of the day. We will strive to be more exceptional both in the range of services and in the ability to offer different types of transport. We understand that a wide range of services and a quick response are distinctive in the market. There are companies that specialize in a narrow field, and one of our competitive advantages is the differentiation of activities, different types of transport, all the services needed by the business in one hand.

What challenges have you faced in recent years, how do you adapt to them and what have you learned?

You always want to grow, improve, but not everything depends only on our will. For the past few years, we have learned to live in unchanging market conditions: before the start of the COVID pandemic, then the war in Ukraine started, and some of the drivers who worked for us could no longer travel. During the pandemic, the production of machinery was disrupted, and the details of the supply chain were disrupted. Due to the war, energy resources became more expensive, which also affected the activities of the transport sector.

We are trying to adapt to such a way of life, such an economy and such a world, we continue to make plans for the future and do not stop. Until now: in some areas we are doing better, in some areas we are struggling, how to optimize the processes to keep the employees we value and the quality of the technology, which we are constantly updating.

In 2024-2025, we are planning a new 50 thousand. sq. m area logistics center construction. Therefore, we have to wait for 23 years of intensive work, so in the future we could provide even more services and create more new jobs.

20 years have passed since Hegelmann transport fell, what are our priorities for the future?

Indeed, time flew by very quickly. Over the years, we have adopted not only many innovative, but also sustainable solutions. Our car in the park is no more than three years old. We want transport to be less expensive, to be safe on the road and comfortable, sustainability is also very important to us. We will supplement the Park with Bio-LNG and Bio-CNG trucks that transport goods in Lithuania and Europe.

Sustainability is one of the most important priorities of our activities. We apply sustainable human resource management practices to our employees and respect the resources required for our processes. We use renewable solutions where possible.

For three years in a row, we have been awarded the Top Employer Lithuania certificate for exceptionally good working and development conditions for employees. It is not only an assessment, but also an obligation to continue to maintain good practices and improve.

There are currently 800 administrative employees working in the Group’s branches in Kaunas, Vilnius, Klaipėda and Iauliai. Within us, there is a really large number of managers who started their careers from an internship or a manager position.

I want to advise all employees to grow together with us, be smart, brave, show leadership and diligence. I have no doubt that it supported us for the first twenty years and will continue to support us.