June the 11th, 2022 - The Croatian national railway carrier HZ Cargo has implemented the RailPRO system which digitises and modernises its business processes, which in turn enables savings and brings benefits for customers and employees alike.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the RailPRO solution has been developed by a Croatian IT company, and HZ Cargo has the exclusive right to use it here in the country.

The key novelty of this new system is the ability to view the current situation on the ground in real time, so you know at any time where which train is, which cargo is being transported, in what quantities it is and how many possible delays along the way there could be. With such detailed real-time information, HZ Cargo points out, the optimal management of locomotives and wagons can be easily achieved. This results in a reduction in total costs and increases the availability of vehicles for additional work.

The shift towards digitalisation and cargo tracking has become more important than ever, especially given the transformation of global supply chains that has made logistics work more challenging than ever before, with increasing pressure to deliver faster and more flexible services at much more competitive prices. Freight tracking has become a key driver of digital innovations in the freight industry, and they're aware of this in HZ Cargo, which is the only one today to have this system implemented.

On the occasion of six months of the active implementation of the system, the director of HZ Cargo, Dragan Marcinko, pointed out that HZ Cargo is firmly following trends that put the importance of timely information and digitalisation of the entire business as paramount.

"Today's customers expect a high level of service - they want to know in real time where their cargo actually is, when it will arrive, and they want to follow each and every change on the cargo's planned route. This level of visibility will help boost HZ Cargo's overall competitiveness, and better monitoring could help return freight to rail. Today, our largest customers have an insight into the current traffic of trains and freight, they're provided with insight into all documentation, and this system actively contributes to the growth of labour productivity. All of this is in line with our strategic goal of modernising the entire business, increasing profitability and focusing on a modern way of doing business,'' explained Marcinko.

HZ Cargo currently has 66 of its own locomotives, the data of which are processed and analysed in real time, the system is currently being used by 900 employees and expansion is planned. GPS devices are installed in all active locomotives, as well as in the company's official cars.

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December the 18th, 2020 - HZ Cargo sought urgent help from the Croatian Government recently as a result of the ongoing crisis, and the powers that be have responded by approving 50 million kuna in state aid to help smooth out virus-induced issues.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on Thursday, the Croatian Government approved state aid to HZ Cargo in the generous amount of 50 million kuna, which is being implemented in the form of a loan with a repayment period of six months, with the regular interest rate of one percent per year implied.

The Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, explained at a recent government session in which the matter was discussed that HZ Cargo had contacted the competent Ministry with a request for emergency assistance, given that its liquidity had been significantly impaired as a result of the crisis and that because of that, it wouldn't be able to meet its business obligations in the coming period.

The state aid paid out to HZ Cargo, amounting to 50 million kuna, is intended for rehabilitation of the company and it obliges HZ Cargo to adopt the necessary measures of the crisis management plan, as well as a formal restructuring plan.

The state aid will be, as previously stated, implemented as a loan with a repayment period of six months with a regular interest rate of one percent per annum on top of it. The decision, as Butkovic said, is an act on the basis of which aid is granted, as set out in the Guidelines on State Aid for the Rehabilitation and Restructuring of Non-Financial Entrepreneurs in Difficulty.

HZ Cargo, the Minister pointed out, is already implementing measures for financial consolidation, business optimisation, and the measures implemented so far have significantly reduced operating costs for the company as a whole.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes on the 12th of November, 2020, HZ Cargo, a technologically backward state-owned company, is continuing its restructuring under a new management led by director Dragan Marcinko. Is this a brand new start for Croatian transport?

After being a crisis manager for several companies, Marcinko accepted a new challenge to save this Croatian transport company, which is why he is embarking on a programme to modernise the company's entire fleet. They took over the Siemens Vectron X4 A17 electric locomotive from the German leasing company ELL Germany GmbH at a price that can't be revealed or found out due to a contractual obligation of the other party, and with the announcement that two more electric locomotives with a minimum power of 5.6 MW are planned for the year 2021.

They should arrive at the beginning of the year, when the initial activities of modernisation of the HZ Cargo fleet would be completed. This is one of the main preconditions for the implementation of a successful restructuring of the company and indeed Croatian transport, in full accordance with the goals approved by the EC in order to stabilise and maintain business, on the obviously longer path that awaits them to find a strategic partner.

In preparation for this, Marcinko's management is already working as part of the proposed set of measures - securing new contracts for the transport of goods, which aim to ensure the stabilisation of the company by finding a quality partner that would continue to operate in a liberalised market. Last year, they transported only about 47.5 percent of the annual amount of transported cargo. Next year, Marcinko intends to raise that share to 60 percent, which would allegedly lead to the cessation of ''loss-making'' business.

The new electric locomotive, which will meet all modern traction needs and represent in some way an overhaul of the lagging Croatian transport offer, offers technical flexibility and long-term economic predictability and is the first concrete step towards "the necessary turn in the company's way of doing business and adapting to the conditions of the growing railway market".

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