photo: Archives/illustration photo
Pacific Eurasia and ÖBB Rail Cargo Group signed important cooperation in intercontinental rail transportation. With the new partnership, Asia and Europe will be combined in a single route, while the potential of the new Silk Road will be further developed. Köseköy Logistics Terminal will become an important center for intercontinental freight transportation.Pacific Eurasia, the forwarder company of TCDD Taşımacılık AŞ, has signed important cooperation that will increase the efficiency in freight transportation in Eurasia, after the export trains to China. In this context, Austria-based ÖBB Rail Cargo Group and Pacific Eurasia decided to cooperate to further develop the potential of the new Silk Road, which will connect Western and Eastern Europe. Within the framework of the cooperation, the link between Europe and Asia will be strengthened through the Köseköy Terminal, which is a vital connection point for transportation from Turkey to the CIS countries and China.
As part of the cooperation between the two groups, Pacific Eurasia will bring the cargo it receives from Central Asia, Turkic Republics, and Asia to Köseköy Terminal. ÖBB Rail Cargo Group will transport these loads to Western Europe. On the contrary, the products that ÖBB Rail Cargo Group will bring from Western Europe will be transported to countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and China by Pacific Eurasia. In this way, the two companies will strengthen their supply chains in the Eurasian continent through sustainable rail transport, while contributing to the achievement of global climate targets.
KÖSEKÖY TERMINAL WILL PLAY A STRATEGIC ROLE
Within the scope of the cooperation of these two groups, which will play a leading role in the transport of products from China to Western Europe, there will be 10 weekly round trips from Europe to Turkey, and most of these trains will use Halkalı Terminal. Pacific Eurasia, on the other hand, will transport the cargo to the Köseköy terminal on the Anatolian side. Pacific Eurasia Terminal Services, operated by Pacific Eurasia in Köseköy, one of TCDD's 19 logistics centers, will carry out all handling and transfer operations.
EURASIAN RAILWAY TRANSPORT WILL BE DEVELOPED
Pacific Eurasia International Marketing Manager Ahmet Burak İçen stated the following regarding the cooperation: “According to the agreement between the two groups, we, as Pacific Eurasia, will bring the cargo we receive from Central Asia, the Turkic Republics and Asia to Köseköy Terminal and from Köseköy, which will act as a bridge, the ÖBB RCG We will transport our cargo to Western Europe via ÖBB RCG will also bring their cargo in Western Europe to our Köseköy terminal, and as Pacific Eurasia, we will carry out their transportation to many destinations. As a result, we will have solved many problems that may occur during transportation with a two-way but one operation. In this way, the two companies will strengthen their supply chains across the Eurasian continent through sustainable rail transport.”
DOORS WILL BE OPENED TO NEW MARKETS
Emphasizing that this partnership will create significant advantages for its customers, İçen said, “Our country will be an important hub with the loads we will carry from China, Central Asia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia to Europe or vice versa. In this way, it will be ensured that the goods transported through other countries pass through our country, and especially our merchants who trade in third countries will be paved and new markets will be provided.”
15 MILLION TONS OF LOAD WILL BE BACK
Providing information about the operations and future projects of Pacific Eurasia, İçen said: "Not only classical container transportation, but also the active use of railways in reef containers (refrigerated containers) especially in the export of fresh fruits and vegetables of our country, our exporters' products of this kind in the East and the Far East. We aim to pave the way for the delivery of, in other words, we aim to be a company that can contribute to our country's becoming an important logistics hub in this geography that extends from Europe to the Far East in 5 years, that can produce fast and effective solutions for its customers and stakeholders, and that has reached a transportation volume of 15 million tons. While 10,000 TEUs could be transported to the eastern geography via the BTK line in 2020, the fact that 6,750 TEUs were transported in the first four months in 2021 is the most important indicator of the increasing interest in the error. We are working hard to reach the target of increasing transportation to 2 million tons with Russia and other countries via BTK. For 2021, our target for the eastern geography via BTK is 1 million tons, while we aim to carry 25 blocks of trains per week in the direction of Europe.”
“Pacific Eurasia operates as the representative of TCDD on the Eurasia BTK railway line (Russia, Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-China) and the Northern corridor line. Pacific Eurasia, which organizes the first export trains from China to Europe and from Turkey to China, as well as Central Asia and Russia, provides door-to-door service in rail transportation.”
ÖBB RCG TRANSPORTED 70 THOUSAND TEU ON SILK ROAD
ÖBB' Rail Cargo Group, which constitutes the freight transportation division, is shown as one of the leading railway logistics companies in Europe. Carrying out 460,000 train trips per year and having a 28.2 percent share in the total freight market in Austria, the company carried more than 95 million tons of freight in 2020. ÖBB RCG, which started the first train service to China via the New Silk Road in 2017, has carried 70,000 TEUs on more than 700 trains to date.