CARGO BUSINESS 1-10.indd - ZSSK Cargo

dopravy
The issues of transport and logistics in Europe were discussed in an
expert conference of the Association of Logistics and Forwarding of
the Slovak Republic (ZLZ SR), held on 12.November in Šamorín.
In the conference, the presentations were made by representatives
of carriers, operators, relevant ministry, public authorities and
Žilina University. The morning of presentation was opened by Mr.
Reinhard Just of DB Schenker Austria, who introduced the company
DB Schenker as a number one in European freight transport. Figures
from 2007 say it all: the company transported 312.8 million tonnes
of goods by rail, it dispatched an average of 5 thousand freight trains
each day and about 60 percent of transportations were international.
The company is also expanding to south-east Europe, performing its
activities in Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia or Romania. In Bulgaria,
the company carries, in particular, building materials and paper.
Hellenic express, connecting Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Hungary
with Greece, is able to transport cargo from Frankfurt to Athens in 36
hours.
- Characteristics of the European economy predetermine combined
transport road – rail to be a prospective solution to the problems of
European traffic – Reinhard Just emphasized at the end.
The state of infrastructure for combined and rail traffic in Slovakia
was spoken about by Mr. Pavol Marušinec of the Ministry of Transport,
Posts and Telecommunications of the Slovak Republic. He stressed
the need for infrastructure investments and interconnection of road
and rail transport in Slovakia. However, it is necessary to complete the
highway network in Slovakia and in accordance with the Operational
Programme Transport to commence the construction of other
intermodal terminals in Bratislava, Leopoldov, Žilina, Zvolen and
Košice. Terminals should be built by 2012.
- Slovakia has participated in the project ChemLog, a project of the
European cooperation among governments, chemical associations
and research institutions of Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Italy. Its aim is to overcome barriers
of international transport in direction East - West and to improve the
utilization of combined transport in the chemical industry logistics –
said Mr. Marušinec in his presentation.
The situation in Železničná spoločnosť Cargo Slovakia, after an
outbreak of global financial and economic crisis, was detailed by
a member of the Board of Directors and Head of Trade Division of
ZSSK CARGO Mr. Ján Simčo. - Slovakia’s economy relies on heavy
industry and this sudden crisis in industries such as metallurgy,
engineering and construction industry, which made up the biggest
share in transportations of goods, was immediately reflected in
transport of goods in both input and output – stated J. Simčo. He
also emphasised that in the same period, one could observe the
results of high investment liabilities to infrastructure and rolling
stocks, particularly to locomotives, which affected the demand for
transportations in Slovakia.
- In January, the electronic toll system for road transport was
introduced. We consider this to be the first step towards the
harmonization of business conditions for all modes of transport.
However, it should be mentioned that rail infrastructure still remains
charged to one hundred percent, while only 10.5 percent of the
roads will be charged by the electronic toll. Charging the roads
will therefore result in increased costs of road transport by about
15 percent per performance unit – described the situation after
introduction of electronic toll system J. Simčo. However, it is a fact
that rail transport has undoubted advantages in particular in its full
coverage, continuity of transport processes, infrastructure capacity,
safety and ecology. On the other hand, high costs for use of transport
route remain one of the weaknesses of rail transport in Slovakia.
- Since 2003, each year we achieved an annual growth in intermodal
transport in our company. The crisis has, however, caused the first
decline in this commodity. Inter-annual decrease for the period of
January to September 2009 was at 15 percent. Yet we see great
potential in intermodal transport, particularly in connection to
Russia, using the Trans-Siberian Railway and in connection of north
Adriatic ports with Slovakia and the rest of Europe – emphasized
J. Simčo. The increase depends on construction of new private
and public terminals of combined transport. Another priority of the
company is to strengthen its technical-technological structure within
the Eastern Slovak Transhipment Yards, which make bottlenecks for
transportations East - West.
The company has invested in reconstruction of re-pumping complex
in Čierna nad Tisou and currently, we are completing activities in the
bulk substrates transhipment workplace. A modern rotary tippler and
the thawing plant on high loading platform III would be handed over to
operation in December.
The project manager of the company Budamar Logistics, a.s., Mr.
Marián Frko described modernization and logistics of bulk substrates
transhipment in Čierna nad Tisou. – After construction of re-pumping
complex, transhipment of bulk substrates at the eastern border will
be fundamentally changed. In this context, it should be mentioned
that the change will result in immediate time saving of broad-gauge
wagons stay, in reduced damage of the wagons during unloading and
in unlimited capacity of bulk substrates transhipment throughout
the year. Positive environmental impact on the transhipment location
should be emphasized as well.
The conference was supported by media Dopravné noviny Transport
and a technical journal Doprava a logistika. One of the co-organizers
was also ZSSK CARGO.
Monika SCHMIDTOVÁ
Communication and International Affairs Office
Zväz logistiky a zasielateľstva SR
ZLZ SR bol založený v apríli 1992 a v súčasnosti má 88 riadnych
a 25 pridružených členov. ZLZ SR je členom združení ako napríklad
CLECAT (Európska organizácia pre zasielateľstvo a logistiku), FIATA
(Medzinárodné združenie národných zväzov zasielateľov), ICC
(Medzinárodná obchodná komora Slovensko). Zároveň vydáva
dokumenty FIATA, venuje sa vydavateľskej i vzdelávacej činnosti
v spolupráci so Žilinskou univerzitou, je spoluorganizátorom
medzinárodnej vedeckej konferencie EUROKOMBI.
Association of Logistics and Forwarding
of the Slovak Republic (ZLZ SR)
ZLZ SR was founded in April 1992 and currently it has 88 regular and
25 associate members. ZLZ SR is a member of associations such as
CLECAT (European Organization for Forwarding, Transport, Logistics
and Customs Services), FIATA (International Federation of Freight
Forwarders Association), and ICC (International Chamber of Commerce
Slovakia). It also issues the documents of FIATA, carries out publishing
and educational activities in cooperation with Žilina University and coorganizes
an international scientific conference EUROKOMBI.
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