Multimodal between the Baltic and the Bosphorus

The international transport and logistics company is expanding its service portfolio on the Bosphorus by adding a key strategic product: as of now, freight transports between Turkey and the Baltic Sea will also be transferred to the railway network. The basis for this new service is a cooperation agreement with the national, state-owned Lithuanian Railways, which the company signed recently at the Logistrans trade fair in Istanbul. As a result, Gebruder Weiss can offer its customers a multimodal transport alternative between Istanbul, Ukraine and the Baltic states. And this is a good way to serve Russia and Scandinavia, too. Low-emission rail transport is not only an environmentally friendly alternative to sea transport via the Mediterranean/Atlantic route but with a journey time of eleven days, it is also nearly twice as fast. The entire rail route is 1,734 kilometres long and runs along central traffic hubs in Southeastern and Eastern Europe.

Multimodal solution
The goods of Turkish origin will first be loaded as sea freight in Istanbul. At the Black Sea port of Odessa the cargo is transferred to rail and from there transported via Kiev, Minsk and Vilnius to Klaipeda in Lithuania. The last mile is then once again covered by truck. “This means that we have not only created a good route between the Bosphorus and the Baltic Sea, but can also offer our customers a good service to all the countries in-between,” says Vojislav Jevtic, Regional Manager, Air & Sea Asia at Gebruder Weiss. The route is offered in both directions, for exports and imports. Lithuanian Railways has been successfully transporting goods on this route since 2003 – above all for shippers of white and brown goods.

Gebruder Weiss in Turkey
Gebruder Weiss has been operating its own branch in Istanbul since the beginning of 2014. The team in this Turkish metropolis is currently made up of 17 employees and offers services in the areas of air and sea freight as well as multimodal solutions. Avsar Dada, responsible for air and sea freight, and Misel Yakop, responsible for overland transport, jointly manage the new location. For more information, please visit: w w w. gw-world. com. tr