ÖBB Rail Cargo Group – RCG and Transfera, one of the leading logistics companies in the Balkans, have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in Serbia.
“I am delighted that the cooperation between ÖBB Rail Cargo Group and Transfera Transport & Logistics will further strengthen the presence of Austrian companies in Serbia. With a total investment volume of around EUR 3.6 billion, Austria is one of the largest foreign investors in Serbia, an increasingly important market with great potential, especially in rail freight,” Christian Ebner, Austrian Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia, said at the signing ceremony which took place at the Austrian Embassy in Belgrade.
The Serbian economy is changing and the demand for environmentally friendly transport solutions continues to grow. This is where RCG comes in, continuing its expansion course and linking Serbia more closely with Turkey and Greece, as well as the ports of Hamburg and Rotterdam, by expanding its European network.
The newly formed joint venture, based in Belgrade, will initially focus on developing intermodal logistics solutions and in the future, the focus will be extended to conventional transport. In recent years, important steps have been taken in Serbia to rebuild the railways and modernise and improve the railway infrastructure. The construction of intermodal terminals is an important factor in the integration of the Serbian railways into the European transport network. In November last year, the first freight train departed from the new intermodal terminal in Kruševac in cooperation between RCG and Transfera, laying the foundations for rail transport from Kruševac to Western Europe.
“This cooperation is a symbol of long-standing friendship and trust, that has led to the establishment of a joint venture in Serbia. Multimodal transport is the future of logistics, and we firmly believe that by combining our resources, knowledge and experience, we can initiate positive changes and set new standards in the industry,” Duško Radović, CEO of Transfera said.
In January 2023, RCG established its 13th carrier company Rail Cargo Carrier – Serbia d.o.o. in Belgrade. This enables RCG to also offer international transport services in Serbia in own traction, with its own locomotives and staff. In addition to Serbia and the Western Balkans itself, this location also offers important connections to Turkey. Although rail transport between the EU and Turkey has grown steadily in recent years, Turkish foreign trade remains heavily dependent on road transport. The agility of RCG with its own traction through Serbia is also an offer to the Turkish economy to handle its exports to the Western Balkans and Central and Northern Europe in a more sustainable way.
The cooperation between RCG and Transfera is another important step towards innovative logistics solutions in the Western Balkans.
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