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Ferries and trains green Turkish supply chain

[ February 4, 2013   //   ]

British freight forwarder Davies Turner says it is offering a more environmentally friendly service to Turkey in partnership with Ekol Logistics. The Istanbul-based company has chartered three ro-ro ferries to run between Istanbul and Trieste with a capacity of 250 trailers per ferry and it also operates thrice-daily block trains between the Italian port and Cologne and Ostrava on the Czech-Poland border, cutting thousands of tonnes of pollution and emissions compared with direct truck transport – and without affecting overall transit times.

Davies Turner chairman, Philip Stephenson says that while his trailer, sea-container and air cargo services between the UK and Turkey have for many years been amongst the forwarder’s fastest growing, comparable to the best Far-East markets, Britain and Ireland import many more loads weekly from Turkey than are exported. He explains: “Normally this would create a significant problem with repositioning trailers but Ekol is continuing to win large contracts from the UK’s continental neighbours like the Netherlands and Germany into Turkey, including major and regular traffic flows from car manufacturers.”

Ekol now employs 5,500 staff with warehousing capacity of half a million square metres throughout Turkey and Europe and opened its latest facility opened in Cologne in early November with a 5,000 sq m warehouse adjacent to the main rail freight terminal.

Davies Turner’s trucks to the Balkans and Turkey were routinely driven overland between the two countries but popular opinion in many markets has turned away
from long-distance truck journeys and has encouraged operators and manufacturers to look at combined transport solutions.
Stephenson adds: “We had been cautious earlier about taking on too many more northbound customers and prospects, but Ekol’s investment in the ferries and the block train services has sent a clear message to the market, and recent success on the southbound leg has allowed us to canvass and take on more northbound business.”

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