Turkish logistics provider Ekol continues its rapid growth and opens up further intermodal space, especially eastbound.
Thus, eight direct train connections shall exist between Europe and China in the future and a new logistics center with a capacity of 100,000 pallets shall be built in Iran, Ekol-manager Ahmet Musul said at the trade fair transport logistic in Munich. The objective in Europe is to reach a growth of 25 percent – the same as in the past five years. The company wants to be represented in 42 countries within three years.
In regards to their new strategy "Logistics 4.0", the company has set their sights on the Silk Road. "We will also concentrate ourselves more and more on the data we get from our customers," Musul said. The data stream can be optimized and serve to find significantly more efficient solutions for logistical processes.
A new train between Budapest and the Chinese Yiwu exists since the end of April, and covers the 9,300 kilometer distance in 17 days. There are eight train connections planned between different Chinese towns and Europe in total, for example also to hubs in Cologne and Madrid. This year, Ekol wants to launch a company in China and establish direct train connections from there to Turkey.
Ekol got involved in Iran right after the economic liberalization. "Iran will turn into one of the most interesting locations for European companies," Musul said. 20 million euros will initially be invested here in the Saffron Logistics Facility in Qazvin. Intermodal shipments between Europe and Iran shall be processed in eleven days, max.
Ekol will integrate Volkswagen into the new Turkey-Trieste-Kiel route with a stop in lower Saxony's Kalefeld by September at the latest. "Volkswagen is very interested in using intermodal solutions," Musul said. At first only one group of wagons will head towards Wolfsburg. The objective is to have two trains stop here, starting in the first quarter of 2018. Inside of Europe, Ekol works together with the German Railway Company (Deutsche Bahn).
