Antwerp and Carinthia could follow a joint path in close economic cooperation in the near future. First, promising talks took place on October 24th in the port of Antwerp between the port authorities and a Carinthian economic delegation.
“Our goal is a logistic cooperation with international ports such as Antwerp and positioning our dry port in Villach-Fürnitz as an international cargo hub, and to highlight the opportunities that our hubs offers thanks to its position on two major European transport corridors – the Tauern and the Baltic-Adriatic corridor. Today’s first talks make me very confident, because Antwerp and individual economic representatives show concrete interest for cooperation,” said Landeshauptmann Dr. Peter Kaiser.
For example, Edwin Moehlig, Managing Director of the Rail & Sea freight forwarding company, expressed his intention to expand the existing connection between Antwerp and Linz, and to test Villach-Fürnitz as a location for this purpose. They were currently organising four weekly trains to and from Austria and want to create a daily connection, he emphasised, refering to the successful cooperation with the Rail Cargo Group.
Katarina Stancova, Advisor Intermodality & Hinterland in the port of Antwerp, said that they were currently trying to build new and improved rail connections between the port of Antwerp and Austria. The port of Antwerp offered the transport industry a new sustainable alternative in the supply chain using the railway connections with Linz, Vienna, Wels and Graz.
Annick Dekeyser, Marketing Coordinator Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Russia, said that Antwerp is currently supplying 8 percent of the goods on the railway, which is to be expanded to 20 percent. Villach-Fürnitz could benefit from both these factors.
“In addition to digitalisation, logistics is a key factor to be successful on an international scale. We have enormous potential for development in Carinthia, at the intersection of two European transport corridors. The Villach-Fürnitz logistics hub is of great importance for the establishment of new enterprises and for our SME’s. Antwerp is of great importance and we see great opportunities in general cargo distribution,” said Christian Benger.
