STL to expand presence in India, Iran

STL to expand presence in India, Iran Kazakhstan’s privately owned multimodal freight forwarder Soyuztranslink will next year open offices in Mumbai in India and Bandar Abbas in Iran, to manage the rising air freight and ocean cargo to the CIS and Central Asian countries.
   'We have traditionally been strong in air freight services to Europe, using the hubs in Amsterdam and Dubai, but there is increasing trade with emerging markets in Asia, notably China and India and now other countries in the Middle East,' said Elena Yusupova, STL's business development director.
   Earlier this year STL launched its rail freight services from China to the CIS countries and Central Asia. STL said there has been a 400 percent increase in trade between China and Kazakhstan in the last four years, estimating the current value of the trade at $10 billion.
   Kazakhstan Railways, a partner of STL, forecasts that the volume of goods on this route will reach 14 million tons in 2006 with container volumes exceeding 125,000 TEUs, from 93,000 TEUs in 2005.
   'We are very excited by the potential for this market. Demand for manufactured Chinese good is increasing in our region as the economies grow and most of the countries are landlocked so rail is the most efficient mode of transport,' Yusupova said.
   'With trade turnover between China and Kazakhstan forecast to grow to $30 billion by 2010 we see our business growing significantly in the next four years,' she added.