BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 6. Rhenus Group plans to expand its operations along the Middle Corridor, corporate representative of the Rhenus Group, Heinrich Kerstgens, said at the German-Azerbaijani Strategic Partnership and Connectivity Conference held in Baku on Tuesday, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
According to him, the economic development of countries along the Middle Corridor can significantly increase the demand for logistics services in the future.
Population growth and the rise in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase the demand for goods and consumer products, which, in turn, will spur industrial development.
"All of this will rely on logistics, as none of these processes can function without it. Logistics may not be the single most critical factor, but nothing is possible without it," Kerstgens noted.
He pointed out that this is precisely why the Rhenus Group has decided to focus its operations in Azerbaijan on the Middle Corridor.
"We aren’t claiming that we want to transport every single container moving between China and Europe and back. Transit will certainly be important. However, the primary opportunity we see for the Middle Corridor in the medium and long term lies in the growth of the economies situated along this route, and in the corridor becoming a catalyst for increased prosperity and GDP growth in those countries," the company representative emphasized.
According to Kerstgens, a key driver of future cargo volume growth along the Middle Corridor will be the expansion of trade and economic ties, both among Central Asian nations and between Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
"We envision transport along the Middle Corridor primarily occurring between Central Asian countries, within those countries, as well as between the South Caucasus and Central Asia, and vice versa. Of course, connections involving Europe, linking it to the South Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as links with China, will also be significant," he explained.
He added that these specific routes could drive a substantial growth in freight volumes in the future.
"In our view, this will be the key factor driving the greatest volume growth in the future, and we aim to be one of the parties enabling this," Kerstgens noted.
The Rhenus Group representative also said that the company is participating in various projects in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan to achieve this goal.
"We are implementing projects in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan to make this a reality," he concluded.
