03.10.2014 Ankara
Under TOBB’s leadership, the Great Anatolia Logistic Organization (BALO) and Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) Rail Cargo Austria (RCA) have signed a protocol for joint venture in Germany.
BALO Board Chairman Harun Karacan and RCA Director Erik Regter signed
the protocol with TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and ÖBB President
Christian Kern acting as witnesses.
TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, during his speech at the signature
ceremony, stated that they want Anatolian cities’ economic cooperation Europe
to increase and said, “For that, railway transportation is a must.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu, speaking at the
signature ceremony which took place at the TOBB Twin Towers, stated that the
entrepreneurs in Anatolia want to do more business with Europe. Pointing out
that land transportation is not all too suited for this; Hisarcıklıoğlu
reported that provinces such as İzmir, Bursa, Kocaeli and İstanbul conduct most
of their trade with Europe whereas the share of trade with Europe of Anatolian
provinces is an insignificant amount of the total.
Stating that they want the economic cooperation of Anatolian provinces
with Europe to increase, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “If we are able to achieve this,
Anatolian lions will become able to produce and sell more medium and high
technology goods. For that, railway transportation is a must.”
Reminding that they conducted the first run from Manisa to Europe for
the first time in 2013, Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that they’ve continued these
operations.
Drawing attention to the fact that RCA is one of the largest freight
transportation companies in Europe, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they have an
understanding with the company to cooperate in the future.
Reminding that Turkey has a goal to achieve 500 billion USD in imports
and 620 billion USD in exports by 2023, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “To this end, we
must diversify transportation. Presently, we are dependent on road and sea
transportation with rail transportation summing up to below 1% of total goods
transported. We have to increase this ration. I believe that this step will act
to benefit this effort.”
- “Turkey is a very strong
country”
Austrian Federal Railways Director Christian Kern stated that the cooperation
has already begun to bear fruit.
Stating that they’ve grasped an important opportunity for RCA, Kern
said, “Turkey is a very strong and promising country. We want to benefit to the
best of our ability from Turkey’s economic development during the next 10
years.”
BALO, formed under the leadership of TOBB by chambers, exchanges, OIZs
and the International and Logistical Service Providers Association (UTİKAD)
provides the international logistics sector with intermodal transportation with
a focus on railways.
Currently running lines to 4 regions of Europe 3 days per week, BALO
aims to increase this to 5 per week by 2015.