Hubat, d. o. o.

Improved quality the priority over constant growth

The Hubat family business from Kamnik is also known under the name “kings of the road”. Founded in 1992, the company, which was at first a peripheral activity for independent entrepreneur Peter Hubat, has certainly “travelled” a long way. From beginning with one truck, it has become one of the leading transporters of dangerous and flammable liquids in the region. Its development has been based on safe and reliable transport and logistics solutions, active partner relationships and constant innovation. It now has a 25-year tradition in offering transport services, considering itself a stable company. In 2012, the owners Gregor Hubat and his brother Aleksander reached their 10-year goal and became owners of warehouse, service, office and parking premises in Kamnik, evolving the company, modestly started by their father, into a renowned international logistics company.

Independence was a strong foundation for growth

In 1992, Peter Hubat began his additional part-time activity, transporting fuel with only one truck. At first, this concerned mainly petrol, with a vehicle purchased in Germany and self-maintained at home, soon followed by a second truck. The next step was renovation of a neglected warehouse for petroleum products in Kamnik and installation of modern filling equipment. With the foundation of HP Commerce (original company name) in 1999, they began independently selling fuel in the wider area of Ljubljana. Soon, they purchased additional trucks and carried out a full range of services, from purchase, storage, transport to and from warehouse, to final sale of goods. This is still true today and expansion in trade has enabled them to offer consumers reliable and affordable delivery of heating oil, diesel fuel and later good quality biodiesel.

Three milestones which made them fly

From the beginning, father Peter has had help from his son Aleksander, who first worked in the company as a driver. Later, Gregor joined, who admits that he had a lot to learn about entrepreneurship. When their father wanted to maintain the company’s position, but began to have more interest in gardening, son Gregor took over, full of new ideas and plans. In 2006, he and his brother Aleksander bought assets from their father and became the company’s owners. Because the company is still relatively small, employing 45 people, of whom over 30 are drivers, almost everyone is engaged in more than one area. Gregor as the Director is now responsible for overall supervision and partly sales, but previously he was also responsible for logistics, finances and accounting. Aleksander’s tasks manly include maintenance of the vehicle fleet, but when it comes to decision-making about investments and costs, the brothers accept all decisions together.

After 2006 when Gregor took over management of the company, economic stringency in 2008 presented a second milestone. Because of the global economic and financial crisis their turnover almost halved: “I decided that we would not credit our end buyers of heating oil with our own assets. Not because we wouldn’t want to, but because more and more natural persons had liabilities against us. Instead of focusing on sales and transport, we dedicated too much of our time to execution processes,” explains Gregor. At that time, they also started to offer transport of flammable and dangerous liquids to other clients. 

As the third milestone, Gregor mentions 2012, when he and his brother took a loan and bought warehouse, service, office and parking premises in Kamnik. “We planned to pay off our credit in 10 years, but we managed to do it in only six,” emphasises Gregor. They constantly expand their business, so that today they own 32 trucks, employ 45 people and transport to former Yugoslavian countries, from Italy to Austria, from Slovenia to Germany, and between Austria and Slovakia. 

Family company as a guarantee of stability

“We’re not a typical family company. It’s built from three families, from which two members of each work here. The accountant trained her daughter, the mechanic brought his wife, who works in the logistics department, plus me and my brother,” explains Gregor. Although the two brothers often have different opinions, they trust each other. Gregor’s wife Linda also plays a part, while not fully employed, by providing marketing assistance, particularly during their re-branding from HP Commerce to Hubat. However, she has another important role: moral support: “Moral support is very important. Just take a look at our balances since 2013, when I met her,” Gregor jokes a little and adds: It’s important to understand that entrepreneurship is not an eight-hour job.”

Family companies are not valued as highly in Slovenia as they are by foreign business partners, as Gregor emphasises: “International companies see family companies with different glasses. It’s a feeling of stability and long-term cooperation,” Linda adds, “If a company is a family company, it’s assumed that it’s been passed down from generation to generation, meaning that it will live for a long time.” They used to say that they were a flexible company, but now in times of growth, they say that they are a stable company.

Work which demands a person’s full commitment

Employment of new personnel in the logistics sector is a complicated process because this demands precision and a person’s full commitment : “It's not the kind of work which wouldn’t attract people, because it’s dynamic and interesting, especially for someone who is bored of administrative work,” emphasises Linda. Gregor quickly adds, “But unfortunately it’s also that kind of work where you have to be constantly reachable,” and emphasizes that this can also be very difficult and stressful. At Hubat, they are aware of how demanding work is for their drivers because sometimes they are away from home for the whole week. International drivers spend the whole week in the truck and then return home only for the weekend. “Because our fleet is modernized, our vehicles are both much more advanced and safer, and equipped with assistance systems, which help the driver. The drivers of trucks with dangerous fluids carry great responsibility, in addition to constant exposure to risks in traffic and they often have to solve difficult situations due to other drivers.” Life on the road, as Gregor emphasises, can also have positive sides: “If you make the most of visiting many places and you’re open minded and curious, you can create a very interesting life and get to know different places.”

The future is in quality

In January 2006, after half a year of preparation, Hubat successfully underwent auditing for the ISO 9001 standard, which was a commercial move, but today is far more than that and helps them in business. For the last three years, they have had a credit rating of AAA. They are required to know the legislation of all countries they transport to in detail, and advise their drivers to have at least a basic knowledge of foreign languages, so that they can communicate if problems occur in a foreign country. They also invest heavily in the education of their employees: “We encourage everybody to attend additional training. Our accountant successfully completed an English class and our head transport officer attended training as a security advisor for the transport of dangerous fluids,” outlines Gregor.

Their main goal for the future is increased quality, because competition in the transport market is intense and currently they do not want to expand. “The business stabilization plan has to be developed into healthy growth,” explains Gregor. “The growth of 8 to 10 trucks a year can’t last forever,” he adds. “The income is divided into three parts: one third represents trade, two thirds transport; 90% of additional value comes from transport,” he concludes, looking forward to even greater transport success in the future.