• 136 exhibitors from 20 countries at logitrans, November 14–16, 2018
• Top 3 countries outside Turkey: Italy, Germany, Austria
• Intermodal transport continues to gain importance

Above all, the Chinese Silk Road Initiative will promote international cooperation along the transport chains between the Orient and the Occident. logitrans in Istanbul is the most important platform to bring together all partners of the logistics industry in this area. 136 exhibitors from 20 countries and 14,100 visitors from more than 50 countries participated this year.

“logitrans has confirmed its position as the leading trade fair for the logistics industry in Turkey and the Eurasian region,” explained Gerhard Gerritzen, Member of the Management Board of Messe München and İlker Altun, Managing Director of EKO MMI Fuarcılık Ltd Şti, Turkey. “A total of 136 exhibitors from 20 countries were on site. In addition to a large number of Turkish companies, the top three exhibitor countries were Italy, Germany and Austria. International collaboration played a major role at the fair.” Steffen Bilger, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, stated at the fair: “Turkey is an important anchor country between Europe, the Middle East and Asia with great economic impact and a significant hub function. logitrans is the most important industry meeting place for the logistics industry in this area.”

International collaboration is gaining in importance
Especially in times of global unrest, logistics service providers are the ones who ensure reliability and keep international networks alive. logitrans shows many examples of how international partners come together and initiate new projects. The new Silk Road is reinforcing this development. This was also demonstrated by the first participation of a joint pavilion in the exhibition organized by the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), an association with companies from Azerbaijan (ADY Express), Georgia (GR Logistics & Terminals) and Kazakhstan (KTZ Express JSC, Port of Kuryk).

“Intermodal transport is becoming increasingly important for Turkey and consequently for logitrans. During the last years we saw a tremendous growth and also expect intermodal to be the efficient and sustainable future of our industry,” Onur Talay, Managing Director of Sarp Intermodal, explained. Local and international players in this field are working together more closely and also exhibited jointly at logitrans, e.g., companies such as Greenlog from Turkey and Nothegger from Austria, which were at the event in Istanbul for the first time. The intermodal approach is also the focus of exhibitors such as U.N. Ro-Ro, Arkas Logistics, Kombiverkehr and the Rail Cargo Group. Mediterranean ports such as the Port of Trieste and Ports of Toulon Bay were also on board as well as the Port of Marseille from France and the Port of Bari from Italy for the first time.

Regardless of whether the Silk Road, intermodal traffic or even digitalization, the challenges and opportunities of important trend topics were discussed intensively in the extensive conference program. “Logistics in particular is an industry in which reliable relationships are important, and logitrans in Istanbul provides the best platform for dealing with international trade flows in the Eurasian region,” İlker Altun and Gerhard Gerritzen affirmed in conclusion.

Messe München GmbH