First steps taken for BALO’s investment plans in Europe

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.​

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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.