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LCA Logistik Center Austria Süd @ transport logistic in Munich

Servus Munich! With this traditional greeting, we are slowly but surely leaving the “port” of Carinthia and setting course for the world’s leading trade fair transport logistic 2023 in Munich, which will take place from May 9-12.

We are presenting a showcase of Carinthian logistics at our Pavilion Carinthia and cordially invite you to visit us there.

But who are we? LCA Logistik Center Austria Süd (LCAS) is the official location agency of the logistics hub of the same name in Fürnitz|Villach, the second largest city in Carinthia. At the same time, we are the competence partner for logistics in Carinthia and stand for the targeted promotion and development of Carinthia as a logistics location. As a location brand, we also assume the central role as a company-neutral coordination, information and communication platform for the logistics location of Carinthia.

Would you like to set up a company in the field of transport|logistics or mobility? Expand your company in Carinthia? Make your freight transport greener and evaluate the use of sustainable rail? Find international highly qualified professionals for your logistics company? Or maybe just join the Carinthian logistics community? Then you’ve come to the right place. We make sure that your logistics project in Carinthia starts successfully.

We looked behind the scenes and interviewed the management of LCAS, Julia Feinig-Freunschlag and Udo Tarmann regarding the tasks and current projects of the agency as well as their vision.

LCAS is changing from a pure location agency to a competence center for logistics in Carinthia. Where is the journey going?

Tarmann: LCAS was founded in 2017 on the basis of a government decision with the owners of the state of Carinthia and the three local communities of Villach, Finkenstein and Arnoldstein. The primary goal at the beginning was to make the location internationally known and of course it was also in the interest of the owners to settle companies at the location. That was also the difficulty, since the owners had neither land nor real estate at their disposal at the beginning, but we were still able to bring 10 companies to the site in the first few years.
With the entry of the new owners in 2021, ÖBB Austrian Federal Railways and K-BV Kärntner Beteiligungsverwaltung (Region Carinthia), the focus of the company also changed towards location development and making the location attractive to customers with an affinity for the railways. Thanks to K-BV as the owner, we were also able to secure important strategic properties on-site in order to have space for new companies and to create new jobs. There are now more than 50 companies with around 1,300 employees on site.
The aim is to secure additional space in order to settle more companies, and we also want to develop into a competence center for logistics, which will establish itself as a topic leader beyond the location in the entire Alpe-Adria region. We see logistics as a classic cross-sectional topic that affects all sectors and also fits in very well with Carinthia’s areas of strength.

Your agency also represents a logistics navigator. What do you mean by that?

Feinig-Freunschlag: The aim is not only to establish the Fürnitz|Villach location as a railway-related hub, but also to promote additional developments, such as the creation of a competence center for logistics. From the Fürnitz location, this competence center is to serve as an innovative hub for research, education and the start-up scene in the logistics sector and strengthen Carinthia’s role as a logistics location.

What is your primary goal with your tasks?

Tarmann: The primary goal is to create new jobs and to keep or expand existing ones. The last few years have shown us how fragile the international supply chains are. A well-developed logistics location can make a positive contribution to minimizing this dependency and steering it in a positive direction. In addition, achieving the climate goals is an essential task now and in the years to come. The location is also of great importance here, as traffic can be successfully shifted from road to rail. Here we have a perfect starting point with the location of the hub, so it will continue to be important and it will increase its international visibility. However, we are also working on many accompanying measures that are intended to benefit the companies on-site on the one hand and to increase the general importance of logistics on the other.

What does LCAS offer a foreign retail group that is interested in the location?

Tarmann: LCA Logistik Center Süd GmbH (LCAS) supports the settlement of new, internationally active, logistics-related companies and accompanies them strategically – professionally and free of charge. LCAS is the first address for everyone who wants to invest in the Fürnitz location or in Carinthia in the field of logistics. A comprehensive and tailor-made range of services is an important part of the service catalog of the location agency. We develop business areas, support in the search for a location and accompany companies and businesswo:men regarding authorities and approval procedures. We coordinate and support the search for personnel and the qualification of existing employees.
We ensure that companies come into contact with suitable cooperation partners from business and research and also advise companies on possible funding and on questions of financing.
In detail, the free investor service provides the following services:

  • Personal support by our team
  • Economic profile with location-specific key figures, documents relevant to decision-making
  • Location search and advice
  • Creation and mediation of contacts to institutional levels
  • Assistance with grants (on regional and national level) and financing
  • Coordination of contacts to suppliers, consultants, other relevant location partners (e.g. TSA Terminal Villach Süd, Rail Cargo Austria, etc.)
  • Coordination of approval procedures
  • Coordination of HR activities (recruitment and qualification of existing employees)
  • Integration into existing business networks, including access to industry-specific focal points and leading companies in logistics
  • Establishing contact with possible cooperation partners
  • Efficient aftercare service for the best possible job retention and expansion (e.g. company expansion, cooperation projects, events, etc.)
  • Personal relocation service for the management level: support in finding private accommodation, schools, kindergartens etc.

And all this in several foreign languages ​​with highly qualified employees.

What makes the LCA-Süd logistics hub so special?

Feinig-Freunschlag: The location scores above all with its optimal geographical location not far from the borders with Italy and Slovenia and the northern Adriatic ports. It is conveniently located at a motorway junction with connections to the north, south and east. A special USP, however, is the railway focus, which is manifested on the one hand by the location on two trans-European freight corridors and on the other hand by the diverse railway-specific offer. At the heart of this is the second largest marshalling yard in Austria and the Combi Cargo Terminal with its services in combined transport.

LCAS is also very active in cross-border cooperation projects. What is your focus here and what are the intentions behind it?

Tarmann: In principle, one has to say that thinking in terms of networks and cooperation is essential, especially in logistics, which is why there has always been a major focus on this since the company was founded.
Participation in national and international cooperation projects is an essential part of the activities of LCAS on the one hand, of course, to gain funding, but much more important to build up a network with other European partners to develop topics and projects together and also to learn from other locations . In general, we only go into selected funding projects whose focus fits well with our strategy and helps the location and its development. A possible focus of the future positioning of the location could be on the topic of food, i.e. setting up companies and services on-site that have a focus of their business activities in this environment, which could be e.g. in the field of refrigerated or frozen logistics, in the distribution or also processing of goods, etc.

What is the effect of the cooperation with the port of Trieste?

Feinig-Freunschlag: The cooperation with the port of Trieste consists primarily in the processing of the newly created rail customs corridor, which connects the two bonded warehouses in the port of Trieste and in LCA-Süd via a rail corridor. In the future, the site will be able to take on more dry port activities for the port, such as customs clearance, empty container storage and container repairs. Both cooperation partners can benefit from this.

What potential do you see in the Fürnitz hub and subsequently also in the logistics location of Carinthia?

Feinig-Freunschlag: Due to its rail connection, the location in Fürnitz is ideal as a bundling and handling hub where goods from the surrounding area can be bundled and distributed. There are currently two projects that are designed to leverage this potential and make the shift of transport from road to rail more attractive. One of these projects, “Rail4Regions”, is being carried out together with other European partners from Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland. These cooperation projects support the joint solution of challenging issues in rail logistics and create valuable networks and cooperation that strengthen the entire logistics location of Carinthia.

 

Thank you Julia Feinig-Freunschlag and Udo Tarmann for this full and deep insight into your daily work. We are thrilled  and would be more than happy to follow the further development of you and your agency. You, too? Then stay up to date! Connect with us on social media (Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, Xing), keep visiting our website www.lca-sued.at and don’t miss any news, events or other good information regarding Carinthia as a logistics location! Well, and of course we look forward to welcoming you at our Carinthia Pavilion: B5.232!