Gebrüder Weiss Expands Its Network in Turkey

The Austrian logistics provider Gebrüder Weiss opens a new location in Mersin on the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey is gaining importance for rail transport on the New Silk Road between Asia and Europe. Mersin is a central logistics hub on the Mediterranean for transport towards the Caucasus, the Near and Middle East, and Central Asia.

(Lauterach) With a new location in Mersin, the transport and logistics service provider Gebrüder Weiss has expanded its network in southern Turkey. The activities around the country’s second-largest port include air and sea freight services as well as intermodal land transport. Mersin is a central logistics hub on the Mediterranean for transport towards the Caucasus, the Near and Middle East, and Central Asia.

“Turkey is an emerging growth market and, with its location on the Mediterranean, an important transshipment point for traffic between Asia and Europe. With Mersin, we are opening up another region for our customers after Istanbul and Izmir. Favorable transport connections to the Mediterranean as well as proximity to the industrial companies in the hinterland speak for the new location,” says Wolfram Senger-Weiss, Chairman of the Executive Board of Gebrüder Weiss. Mersin connects to the northern economic centers of Kahramanmaras, Konya, and Kayseri, from which mainly products from the textile and agricultural sectors, chemical industry, and mechanical engineering are exported. “The immediate proximity to the producers is crucial. For local customers, we offer not only air and sea freight services but also pharmaceutical and multimodal transport, as well as warehousing and customs clearance,” adds Çiler Keskinel, Country Manager Air & Sea Turkey at Gebrüder Weiss.

Importance as a Silk Road Hub

Towards Central Asia and China, Turkey also provides an important gateway function on the so-called “Middle Corridor” of the New Silk Road. This offers an alternative to transport via the “Northern Corridor” through Russia and runs from Turkey (Istanbul), Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan to China. “We are represented in most countries along the middle corridor with our own locations and are familiar with the local legal and cultural peculiarities in these regions. We are seeing an increased demand from customers for transport on this route,” says Senger-Weiss. The transit time currently ranges from 35 to 45 days, as the route also crosses the Caspian Sea.

Third Location in Turkey

In addition to Istanbul and Izmir, Mersin is the third location of Gebrüder Weiss in Turkey. Since 2012, the company has been organizing partial load transports as well as air and sea freight services there with 75 employees. With the acquisition of the forwarding company 3S Transport & Logistics, Gebrüder Weiss also further expanded the transport from Istanbul to Germany last year.

Photo: © Gebrüder Weiss