McLean's - American Shipper

TRANSPORT / OCEANis Advance’s agent in China.The expansion to Urumqi will offer apotential connection from the extremewestern Chinese inland region to Poti andthen by feeder ships to Europe and the EastCoast of North America.Advantage International already operatesrail services originating in Turkey, CIS andRussia and combined rail, roll-on/roll-offand ferry services, as well as container feederservices, between Black Sea and Mediterraneanports to Poti for onward transport byrail and road to all destinations within theCIS, Iran and Iraq.Anticipating good volumes on the AdvantageExpress Service, the companyplans to charter some 12,000- to 15,000-ton multipurpose ships to operate betweenWestern Europe and Poti on a 14-day ortwice-monthly sailing frequency. The transittime between Antwerp and Poti is expectedto be about 12 days.For North American cargoes, AdvantageInternational charters ships from Germany’sBBC Chartering and Logistics on tworoutes: from Houston, Galveston, Baltimoreand Charleston to Poti; and from Toronto,Montreal and St. John’s in Canada to theGeorgian port. Houston-based World ProjectsInternational acts as Advance’s agentin North America.There are also plans to increase the AdvanceExpress Service’s frequency to five departuresa week by the end of this year.“With a question mark over suppliesfrom other parts of the world, energy fromKazakhstan is becoming more vital everyday,” Kamel said.“Furthermore, with the Chinese governmentkeen to open up inland parts of thecountry to international trade, more shipperswill need to consider the overland option.Central China is a long way from the portsof the country’s Eastern seaboard, and thenew express link will be vital in opening upthese areas to the outside world,” he said.Iran At The Hub. While the IslamicRepublic of Iran may be considered partof the “axis of evil,” it is also located at thecrossroads of the TRACECA and North-South Corridor, and has big plans to makethe most of its strategic location.From Europe, Iran imports vehicles frommanufacturers like Daimler, Renault, Peugeotand Fiat. Cargo from the United Statesincludes frozen food stuffs.In September 2000, Russia, Iran and Indiasigned the North-South Transport CorridorAgreement to restore Soviet Union-era connectionsby extending the Helsinki/St. Petersburg/Moscowroute across the CaspianSea through to the southern Iranian port ofBandar Abbas, India and eventually beyondto South East Asia.To facilitate the burgeoning corridor,Iran has embarked on one of the world’slargest railway construction programs. Lastyear, it committed to a five-year economicdevelopment plan to plug holes in its railnetwork and increase its cargo capacity to53 million tons by 2010.To do this, Iran aims to upgrade 5,600kilometers of its existing 8,300 kilometersworth of track and lay down an extra 3,500kilometers of electrified railway lines.The development of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway has been identified as apriority, which will connect the northernprovince of Gilan to the state railway networkand complete the western branch ofthe North-South Corridor.Other major transport infrastructureprojects include extending the Sangan-Heartrailway by 201 kilometers to link Afghanistanto the Persian Gulf, and a Baku-Astarahighway.Astara Transit Terminal. Advancehas identified Astara on the Azerbaijan andIranian border as a major rail/road hub forthe future. Over two years, the companyhas invested about $17 million to develop70 AMERICAN SHIPPER: APRIL 2006