Zurich Airport is expanding its runways and building a new cargo terminal. In January and February, 65,988 tons of cargo were handled, up 9.8% year-on-year and approaching pre-pandemic levels (71,508 tons in 2019).
Martin Koubek, Director of the Silk Road and CIS department at Metrans, introduced the company and said that Metrans is a key player in intermodal transport and has been an integral part of the HHLA group since 2018, which is mainly owned by the port organization of Hamburg. Founded in 1991, Metrans boasts over 30 years of experience in intermodal logistics. With annual revenues exceeding €590 million, the company has handled over 1.3 million TEU of cargo and handled 1.2 million TEU in its warehouses with the help of its dedicated team of 2,650 employees.
Dmitrij Hasenkampf, General Director of Sales and Business Development at RTSB, began by describing his company, which was founded in 1996 and has rapidly expanded its presence in the former CIS market through transport between Europe and countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Belarus. The company is currently present in 22 locations around the world, mainly on the Eurasian continent, with a staff of approximately 350 employees and successfully operating more than 3,000 trains between Europe, China and the CIS countries last year.
Representatives of STK KAZLOGISTICS met with the management of the branch of NC KTZ JSC – the Directorate of Automation and Digitalization (CDAC), KTZ – Freight Transportation LLP, and Ktzh Express JSC. At the meeting, issues of automation and digitalization of railway transport were discussed.
Radu Balcu, Manager of the Business Improvement and New Businesses Department at GRAMPET GROUP, dedicated the presentation to the most important factors necessary to position the Middle Corridor as the main rival to the Northern Corridor. At the forefront of this endeavor is the Grampet Group, a pioneering multinational company headquartered in Romania.
As part of the reform of state regulation of the transportation market, KTZ – Freight Transportation LLP will lose some functions. It is planned to separate the operator of the main railway network into an independent legal entity, independent from KTZ – Freight Transportation LLP. In addition, it is planned to create a mechanism for financing railway infrastructure from the republican budget and attract investment into the freight transportation market.
Irakli Danelia, Business Development Manager for the Central Asia and Caucasus region at MAERSK, addressed three key topics, including the transformation of global supply chains through containerization, logistics performance indicators and Maersk’s role as a global logistics integrator on a regional scale. The significant development of containerization worldwide is due to factors such as increasing trade liberalization, technological advances in container technology and significant investment in port infrastructure.
Ralf-Charley Schultze, President of UIRR, spoke about the recently introduced new initiative called “Improving Combined Transport”, aimed at strengthening the industry’s position in Europe. The initiative, proposed by the European Combined Transport Industry Association, represents the interests of both operators and terminal managers in the combined transport sector. Emphasizing the key role of terminals, the association positions itself as a link between rail suppliers and logistics service providers, providing a customer-centric approach to logistics integration.
In the first quarter of 2024, there was a significant increase in export traffic by rail towards China, exceeding the previous year by 21.1% and reaching 3.2 million tons. Transportation is particularly active at the Dostyk-Alashankou border crossing, where 2.2 million tons of goods were transported from Kazakhstan to China by rail, marking an increase of 12.3%.
George Doborjginidze, Chairman of the Georgian Logistics Association, provided an overview of the key opportunities, bottlenecks and weaknesses that need to be addressed to ensure the smooth movement of goods along the Middle Corridor.
