RESULTS
The leading representatives of freight forwarding industry from different countries gathered in Odessa on 31 May – the day when FIATA was founded – to welcome this event and discuss the challenging and promising issues observed in Eastern Europe, EU and CIS. “International Freight Forwarder’s Day” has become the traditional forum for representatives of transport field”, Mr. Oleg Platonov, the President of PLASKE JSC mentioned. This company has initiated this event. 2010 witnessed the delegates from Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, Uzbekistan, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, and Estonia. The number of participants is astonishing – 200 people.
The International Freight Forwarder’s Day is a platform for discussing the most urgent issues, including the development of contrailer train VIKING in the rail-ferry direction for an integrated transit Baltic-Black Sea as well as the development of rail freight as the part of multimodal transport between Europe and Asia.
Mr. Petr Khlytsov, First Deputy Chairman of Odessa State Administration, highlighted that International Freight Forwarder’s Day “is a platform for supply chain development which joins together the efforts of competitors and turns them into partners”. He also mentioned that the constructive discussions would become the base for future decision-making. Consolidation of efforts obviously contributes to better infrastructure and quality of transport services.
The First Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr. Vladimir Korniyenko called the freight forwarders – the architects of transport – to be involved both in freight forwarding and operation. According to him operators today ensure 50% of transport and their main task is to create the comfortable conditions for goods movement. As the example of efficient work and consolidation of actions he mentioned the oil transportation via Odessa Sea Port to Belarus. Mr. Korniyenko also pointed out the importance of through tariff rates introduction in the Ukrainian territory which are able to increase internal and transit transport.
Mr. Marco Sorgetti, Director General of CLECAT, said that Ukraine will become the close competitor to Romania in the Black sea region only after improvement of legislation and its compliance with European standards and introduction of e-documents. “Today the only advantage of Constanta lies in its Membership in EU”.
The Director General of CLECAT was supported by Mr. Jean-Claude Delen, President of FIATA during the FIATA Filed Regional Meeting. He said that Odessa Region may become the center of logistics platform for Europe-Asia-Europe freight. “Today the freight flow from Asia to Europe and vice versa has decreased significantly. We consider Odessa as the central point of logistics platform. It is supposed that the freight from Europe to Odessa will be delivered by air transport and after it by rail transport to Asia".
Mr. Ivan Liptuga, Vice President of FIATA, informed the delegates that as the political situation has changed, Ukrainian freight forwarders hope to see the favorable conditions for growth and comprehensive usage of Ukrainian transit potential. It means that Ukraine should change the scope of legislation and finally introduce the documents compliant to the international standards.
Moreover, Mr. Liptuga mentioned that the new ferry service launched in Illichivsk (heading to Samsun, Turkey) is the essential source for Viking project. “Today Viking project comprises Baltic states, Ukraine, and Belarus. The negotiations with Turkey have been holding for 5 years already. Recently the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Lithuanian delegations have been discussing the possibilities to extend the Viking international rail container line to Turkey. Now ourTurkish colleagues are participating in International Freight Forwarder’s Day. FIATA Vice President highlighted that the project participants are interested in the extension of the route to Scandinavia, Caucasus and Asia. Samsun port, one of the largest in Turkey, will access the project in the near future. After the International Freight Forwarder’s Day this issue will be solved at the intergovernmental level.
Today the transport sector is in the downturn. The main direction for development is market liberalization which includes the elaboration of transparent and clear legislative base, further introduction of e-documents and free access to the market. Such summary was made by Mr. O. Platonov, President of PLASKE JSC.
Note.The event was organized on the initiative of PLASKE JSC, under strong support of International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), Association of International Freight Forwarders of Ukraine (AIFFU), Association of Freight Forwarding Organizations of Ukraine (UKRVNESHTRANS), and under the auspices of Ministry of Transport and Communications of Ukraine, Ukrainian Railways, Association of Customs Brokers of Ukraine, together with The Lithuanian National Freight Forwarders Association LINEKA, Belarusian Association of International Freight Forwarders and Logistics BAIF, Freight Forwarders & Logistics Service Providers Association UTICAD (Turkey), National Association of Bulgarian Freight Forwarders, Armenian Freight Forwarders Association, Freight Forwarding Association of Georgia.
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With the support of:
