On 10 May 2017 UIC participated in the 2nd International Conference “Railway Business at Transit Speed”. The event took place as part of the largest transport and logistics exhibition “Transport Logistic 2017”. The Conference was held with the support of RZD and under the auspices of the Coordinating Council on Trans-Siberian Transportation (CCTT).
The key theme of the Conference was the opportunities the East-West Corridor opens for shippers. The participants discussed trade turnover dynamics and the increasing demand for container transportation between Europe and Asia, and the benefits of railways for international goods traffic.
Manufacturing, transportation, logistics and forwarding companies of Russia, Germany and the countries of the European Union and the Eurasian Union were the target audience. The discussions were moderated by Mr Gennady Bessonov, General Secretary, Coordinating Council on Transsiberian Transportation.
UIC Director General Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux gave a welcome address in front of a panel composed of Mr Alexander Micharin, First Vice President, Russian Railways, Mr Edvins Berzins, Chairman of the Management Board, President, Latvian Railway, Mr Maciej Libiszewski, Chairman of the Management Board, PKP Cargo S.A, Mr Egidijus Lazauskas, Deputy CEO, Director of Freight Transportation Directorate, Lithuanian Railways,Mr Uwe Louscher, Senior Vice President, Business Development Eurasia, DB Cargo AG and Mr Martin Vozar, CEO, Chairman of the Board of Directors, ZSSK Cargo s.a.
Jean-Pierre Loubinoux gave the audience an insight into the key findings of the study on transcontinental corridor development led by Roland Berger on behalf of UIC which is about to be published. He mentioned in particular the extraordinary development on the Northern routes since the previous study in 2011 (Icomod) with the establishment of regular services and the increase of destinations served. He also evoked the market potential of the various routes and the market segments that could be targeted by rail. Mr Loubinoux then insisted on the importance of key partnerships, such as those that UIC has established with CCTT, CIT, OTIF, UNECE, ADB, EEU, CRT. Indeed UIC has made corridor developments one of its priorities for freight at European level but also at regional level (Asia, Middle-East, Africa). The several partnerships on that matter are designed to support this development and current priorities focus on fostering interoperability, efficiency gains in operations, fostering broader differentiation in services, improving coordination of traffic flows.
