Håkan Jyde, the General Managing of Scania Ukraine told LDaily about the work of the office during the occupation, about customer support, investments during the war and faith in Ukraine and its bright future.
LDaily: What was your experience in doing business during the war? What concrete changes in business took place during the war? What were the reasons for these changes and how did they affect your company?
H. Jyde: The russian invasion naturally immediately changed all conditions for our business in Ukraine. Our head office and main workshop in the Bucha district outside Kyiv were occupied and looted by russian troops, and our dealers in cities in the Eastern part of the country such as Kharkiv and Kramatorsk had to stay closed for a long time. Scania never stopped doing business, but for a while focus moved to our outlets in Western Ukraine – Lviv, Lutsk and Mukachevo. We arranged evacuation of employees and their families with the support of our Scania colleagues in other parts of Europe, and for some time we had about 125 people staying abroad. I left Ukraine myself together with my family in February, but was able to come back home to Kyiv after a couple of months.
LDaily: How do you assess the importance of business planning and risk analysis amidst a war? What concrete steps have you taken to protect your business from the possible negative consequences of the war?
H. Jyde: You can never fully prepare for the kind of things that happened in February last year, but we had taken certain measures, such as moving computer servers out of our Kyiv office a few weeks earlier. Safety goes first and nowadays we focus on providing safe work places for our employees – we have moved our head office to central Kyiv, and we are building bomb shelters at our other sites.
LDaily: How did the occupation of the territory where your office is located affect your company? How did you manage to work during this time and what losses have you suffered?
H. Jyde: In a way conditions during the pandemic had already taught us how to handle parts of our business remotely, so those of us working at the head office switched to online mode. Of course when it comes to workshops and servicing of our Scania vehicles this needs to be done physically, some of our dealer sites we have managed to keep open practically throughout the war, and gradually we have been able to open up our entire network step by step. We even invested in and inaugurated a second workshop in Kyiv during June, in Brovary, in order to be closer to and better serve our customers that are located on the left riverbank. Out of the totally 12 service points we have in Ukraine 11 are open now, unfortunately our workshop in Kramatorsk was bombed twice by the russians during the autumn, but we hope to be able to come back there soon.
LDaily: How did you maintain the connections with your customers during the war? How did you meet their needs in the conditions of uncertainty and limitations?
H. Jyde: Customer First has always been the most important motto of Scania and that is even more important when we have to work under the current extreme conditions. Of course there have been cases where we have not been able to keep up our service to the level where we would usually want to it to be, for instance delivery of spare parts got extremely complicated after our main warehouse was occupied. Still, we have been working hard to find ways to help our customers to keep their trucks and buses on the road. We have tried to do our best in a very difficult situation and our customers really seem to appreciate our efforts.
LDaily: What percentage of your business has recovered in the Ukrainian market?
H. Jyde: The war has even increased the need for transportation solutions and some goods such as grain that used to be transported by sea has now moved to roads due to the blockage of ports and limited transport capacity. Certain sectors that have suffered attacks by the enemy, such as fuel supply, are also showing an increased demand. In the end, everything has to be transported, not least critical goods like medicines and food, so apart from the apparent physical losses of a workshop and damages to vehicles and equipment I would say that our business in Ukraine has already recovered completely.
LDaily: How did you adapt your business to the changing economic and political conditions during the war? What new markets and opportunities did you find?
H. Jyde: While we see an even higher demand than before the war in certain segments, there are of course sectors that are still suffering heavily, such as mining and construction. However, the rebuilding of Ukraine will of course require massive investments in construction so I expect that part of the market to become a lot more active, and we see some signs of that already now. We have already started to deliver concrete mixers to customers who are engaged in reconstruction projects. In the long run the entire civil and communal infrastructure will need to be brought up to European standards – for instance waste handling is still to a large extent handled with outdated Soviet era equipment, and the entire fleet of fire trucks will need to be upgraded and modernized.
If we look at the statistics of heavy truck deliveries in January-April, the total market practically doubled compared to last year. While 2022 may not be a good year for comparison, the difference with 2021 is even higher. That is, the first quarter of 2023 is an all-time-record for us. Another important change is the significant drop in deliveries from the Belarusian manufacturer MAZ, so the Western European share of the market is increasing. Back in 2021, MAZ was by far the biggest supplier of trucks to Ukraine, but this is clearly changing.
LDaily: Did you manage to retain the entire team? What challenges did you face during the war?
H. Jyde: One of the challenges that most businesses meet is the increasing need of personnel for the army. Although we all realize that without the heroic efforts made by and victories of the Armed Forces of Ukraine there would hardly be any business left in the country at all, it is also important that our staff is able to stay in their workplaces and carry out their duties. Logistics is a critical sector to guarantee that we will come out of this successfully, and we need to keep the wheels rolling all over Ukraine. A number of our Scania team members are serving in the army right now, and we are very proud of them. Unfortunately, a couple of our people have been reported missing in combat. That means we do not really know what has happened to them, our thoughts are with those colleagues and their families and we continue to hope for the best.
LDaily: How do you support the morale of your team during the war? What approaches do you use to keep their motivation and efficiency in the uncertain conditions?
H. Jyde: Of course, we organize various events for our employees, such as trainings, team-building activities, sessions with psychologists, and financial support for those in need. However, I have heard more than once from employees that it is the work itself that helps them to cope with stress. After all, when you work, you get your thoughts focused. Above all, I think that all members of our team realize that what we do, guaranteeing that critical transport tasks may continue to be carried out while our country is under attack, is important to guarantee Ukraine’s resilience, and that is what keeps us motivated in the end.
LDaily: How do you plan to develop your business in the future after the war? What challenges and opportunities are standing ahead?
H. Jyde: We never stopped our business in Ukraine. I have personally never doubted that our troubled but beautiful country will emerge even stronger once the war is over, and even when things might have looked a bit uncertain a couple of months into the war, we continued our investments and even opened a new workshop in Kyiv. There is no reason to wait – the rebuilding of Ukraine is starting already now and Scania is proud to be a part of that.
