Christian Hallberg summarizes the first half of 2024

Tempcon’s CEO Christian Hallberg summarizes an eventful first half of 2024, marked by continued positive development, numerous exciting new ventures, and an acquisition.

Watch the interview on our YouTube channel. You can also read it below

How would you briefly summarize the first half of 2024?
We have experienced stable economic development, reaping the benefits of the transformative work undertaken in 2023. We have grown through both acquisitions and new customer assignments. Our organisation has developed through recruitment and consolidation of operations. We have also invested heavily in our sustainability efforts, including significant investments in environmentally friendly vehicles and ISO certifications. All of this creates added value for our customers and partners.

Tempcon has been focusing on organisational development in recent years. What new steps have you taken in the first six months of 2024?
Yes, as you mentioned, we have had a clear focus on developing and strengthening our organisation recently. For example, this year we welcomed three new CEOs to the Tempcon Group: Fredrik Persson at Tempcon Norrland, Håkan Landgren at Abbekås Transport & Logistik and Peter Möller at Klimat-Transport. Two of the former CEOs remain in the organisation but in new roles. In this way, we strengthen the organisation as new competence comes to us. We have also appointed two deputy CEOs: Linda Backlund at Tommy Nordbergh Åkeri and Thomas Wallin-Jönsson at Abbekås. Both Linda and Thomas have been in the organisation for a long time and have broad and solid knowledge and can now contribute to the continued development with a clearer mandate.

We also continue to prioritize our sales efforts. Among other things by adding two new KAM roles through Tommy Nordbergh Åkeri. There we have gained strong and solid competences with long experience in the industry through Fredric Torstensson and Jonas Olsson.

At central level, we also continue to develop our organisation, creating clarity and structure. We have, among other things, appointed Carmen Larsen as our new Payroll Manager, who has excellence in her field.

While making these enhancements, we have also consolidated and implemented efficiencies in other parts of the organisation to reduce our cost base. In our industry, it is crucial to have a cost-effective organisation with the best employees.

In recent years, Tempcon has acquired several companies in quick succession, but the acquisition pace has slowed somewhat in the past year. However, you made a new acquisition in the first half of this year.
Yes, that’s correct. A few months ago, we acquired Cold Star Logistics, a relatively new player with talented employees who have had an exciting development journey. Cold Star strengthens our presence in Central Sweden and complements our existing range of services with new transport solutions.

In addition to the acquisition, you have also grown organically with some new exciting agreements this spring.
Yes, among other things, Widriksson Logistik has secured new and exciting assignments for Apotek Hjärtat via Postnord TPL. We have also developed the collaboration with IKEA across larger geographical areas.

Erling Andersson Åkeri has significantly developed its collaboration with Arla, with new routes and areas. An exciting assignment that proves that we deliver quality and that the customers want to grow with us.

Furthermore, Tempcon Norrland has begun a major assignment involving long-distance and distribution transport for various types of groceries, including chilled and frozen goods, throughout Norrland at the beginning of the year.

You are also making significant investments in Hyllinge, not far from here in Helsingborg, to meet future needs.
The investment we are now making in a new, expanded freezing facility for Syd Frys is the largest single investment we have made on the warehouse side, with an investment of over 100 million SEK. With this investment, we will more than double the storage capacity and the expansion is an important step for us to meet the increasing demand for frozen products from our customers.

Sustainability and environmental issues have always been important to Tempcon and you continue to work towards a transport sector with less impact on our surroundings. Could you mention some current initiatives in this area?
As part of the new production at Syd Frys in Hyllinge, we are investing in a solar cell plant that will be one of the largest in the entire region. Running cold storage requires a lot of energy, especially in the summer, and being able to use a significant amount of self-produced electricity strengthens our transition efforts.

In terms of vehicles, we are making a major investment in gas-powered vehicles within Erling Andersson and Tommy Nordbergh Åkeri. We will likely have around 70 gas-powered vehicles by the end of the year.

We are also investing in additional electric vehicles and we already operate around 20 electric vehicles in the group today.

Furthermore, we have also recently completed a successful ISO certification. All our companies have been certified according to four ISO standards for many years, including Quality, Environment, Food Safety and Traffic Safety.

The foundation for this success is the increased awareness and knowledge of our management systems over the years. Resources have been allocated to train our staff in these matters, especially our internal auditors. Their work must be highlighted for the successful certification.

In conclusion, I would like to take the opportunity to thank customers, employees and suppliers and wish you all a wonderful summer!