BUCHAREST (Romania), September 11 (SeeNews) – Romanian railway freight transportation group Grampet said on Tuesday it has joined the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) Association.
“We are honored to join this partnership that brings us closer to a strategic objective we have set 20 years ago – connecting the North Sea and the East China Sea by rail,” Gruia Stoica, president of Grampet Group, said in a press release.
TITR is an initiative of Chinese, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan governments for the development of a new Asia - Europe multimodal transports corridor, Grampet said in a press release.
"This alliance may transform Romania into a logistics platform for Europe and Asia, generating around 100,000 new jobs and over one billion euro in state budget contributions," Stoica added.
The company officials estimate that joining the Trans-Caspian Route will stimulate the development of intermodal traffic in Romania, as well as in neighbouring countries.
"Grampet Group admission to TITR finalizes the construction of a new route China – the European Union. Basically, we are opening five countries from the community (Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Austria) in this corridor, through the rail operators in our group," said Sorin Chinde, general manager of Grup Feroviar Roman, the flagship company of Grampet.
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route spans a total of 9,500 kilometers, out of which 860 kilometers across the Romanian territory (rail corridor IV, Constanta Port – Curtici).
Established almost 20 years ago, Grampet is today the largest private rail freight and logistics operator in Romania and in Central and South Eastern Europe, comprising 16 companies. Its flagship company, Grup Feroviar Roman, is the biggest private railway transport operator in Romania, with a market share of approximately 30%.