trailer world Issue One 2012

Issue One 2012 19 Photos:KitaLogistics comes expensive due to longer waiting moor- ing times of the vessel. “We sent our own peo- ple out there to organise the unloading on the spotinPortSudan”,saidEldener.Thereishardly any infrastructure there. They also had to find some 240 trucks to cover the remaining 1,000 kilometres by road. Turkey repeatedly refers to its favourable location between the continents. Russia and the central Asian countries are becoming increasingly important for transport com- panies. In 2005, for example, Kita Logistics organised the transport of a power plant to Turkmenistan. From the port of Derince in the Bay of Izmir, the route went via Russia through the Volga-Don Canal to the Cas- pian Sea and on to the Turkmenistan port of Turkmenbaschi. Eldener again sent one of his team there in order to guarantee that operations went smoothly. “The number and quality of the trucks and trailers was insuf- ficient. We therefore had to convert the trail- ers for the job”, said Eldener. The situation is less favourable at the mo- ment in the south of Turkey. The flashpoints are Syria and Iraq. The routes for land trans- port in the Middle East were cut off due to the unrest in Syria. “Syria was the best op- tion for land transport in the Middle East”, said Eldener. There are no alternatives over land. Iran is under embargo and Iraq is currently too dangerous for transit. Heavy goods transport over land is out of the ques- tion at the moment. In Iraq, Kita Logistics had completed 16 projects in recent years, including the transport of an oil supply sys- tem, construction materials and power plant equipment. Kita Logistics maintains an office in Er- bil in northern Iraq with a 1,000 m2 ware- house as a transhipment point, because Turk- ish trucks do not drive into southern Iraq for safety reasons. “We work together with 35 Iraqi drivers”, said Eldener. Before we employ them, we check their background, because it would not be a good idea to send a Shiite driver into the Sunni area around Baghdad. Turkish transporters have found an al- ternative for their way to the Arabian Gulf and Saudi Arabia, Doha and Qatar. “We use Ro-Ro or container ships via Egypt and the Red Sea”, said Eldener. Recently, the Turk- ish shipping company U.N Ro-Ro has been operating a regular service between the Mediterranean port of Mersin and Alexan- dria. From there, Ro-Ro ships also sail to the port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. “Tran- sit times have however been significantly in- creased as a result. The land route via Syria took nine days, now we need 12 to 13 days”, said Eldener. A container ship would need even longer, since there is no direct connec- tion from Turkey to the Persian Gulf. The containers therefore had to be transhipped in the Egyptian port of Port Said. A ship to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for example would therefore need 18 to 20 days. Despite the se- curity situation in Iraq, Kita Logistics is or- ganising further container transport by sea through the Persian Gulf to the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. Emre Eldener also sees that things are changing in some countries. More and more Turkish companies are doing business in Central Asia and positioning themselves there with trucks, including equipment for heavy goods transport. The same applies to the Mid- dle East, for example, Basra in southern Iraq. In Turkey, Eldener sees plenty of business for Kita Logistics. The Turkish Government is working towards greater independence in energy supply. It does not want to be too de- pendent on Russian energy imports and wants to gradually reduce the large trade deficit with Russia. So there is still much to do for Kita Logistics in the face of Turkey's great need for energy. (sl) Alternatives to the route through Syria or Iraq Low-hanging overhead lines also caused problems for the logis- tics specialists with their 5,000 m2 project between Turkey and the South American Trinidad and Tobago. Turkey - Algeria: A special ship with handling gear lifted 300-tonne transformers on board in the port of Derince. Ideal location for business with the West and the Middle East Further information can be found on the Internet site of Kita Logistics at www.kita.com.tr Worldwide

trailer world Issue One 2012

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