OREANDA-NEWS. April 05, 2013. An inter-modal logistic corridor is opened in Moldova between the Black and the Baltic Seas to transport cargo by sea and rail ways. Cargoes will be transported by Zubr, a regular container train. The launching ceremony was taken part in by Acting Premier of Moldova Vladimir Filat, Director General of Rail Ways of Moldova Vitalie Struna and Tomas Moser, Director General of Danube Logistics, the general investor, owner and operator of Giurgiulesti International Free Port. Vladimir Filat saw containers from China being shipped for further transportation by train to Belarus, Ukraine and Baltic States.

The Acting Premier stressed importance of such projects for Moldova since two kinds of transportation – by sea and by train- may reduce transportation costs and attract external transit flows to our country. By this, Vladimir Filat said, investments in port and railway facilities are used at their most, helping to create the added value for the entire southern region of Moldova. Danube Logistics Director General Tomas Moser thanked the government for support in implementing the project and stressed it visibly enhances regional importance of our country as a hub for transit transportation.

Rail Ways of Moldova and Danube Logistics became partners in the Zubr regional project in December, 2012. Zubr is a container train transporting cargoes from ports of the Black Sea to ports of the Baltic Sea. Moldova’s inclusion in the route of this train has become possible thanks to the visit of Vladimir Filat to Turkey in November, 2012 during which Turkish carriers showed their interest to transportation of cargoes through such a corridor as well as thanks to efficient partnership between Rail Ways of Moldova, a state enterprise, and Danube Logistics, a foreign investor and the administrator of Giurgiulesti Port.

By establishing a single railway –and- sea tariff, capable to compete with other kinds of cargo transportation, it has become possible to create a new product that meets the growing market demand. An amount of containers transported through the new platform is expected to grow 3.5 times from 1160 in 2012 to 4000 approximately in 2013.