The Dragon Maritime Group is an intermodal transport pioneer in Serbia. Since the 2017 establishing of a regular railway line between the Port of Piraeus and Belgrade, more than 65,000 containers have been transported via the “Land-Sea Express” service
Increasing volumes of rail transport traversing Serbia, the modernising of railways and the introducing of new multimodal terminals, as well as the establishing new railway corridors with the countries of Central and Southeast Europe, will bring Serbia many benefits – announces Dragon Maritime Group President Erich Cossutta, speaking in this CorD Magazine interview.
It’s extremely important in your line of work for the transport of goods, both imports and exports, to be eased by shorter transit times and competitive prices. How difficult is it for you to handle the competition and what is your greatest asset?
Intermodal transport is today one of the most represented forms, given that rail transport has significant advantages over road haulage, and that’s not only due to the need to lessen the burden on road infrastructure, reduce pollution and increase the efficiency of transport in terms of transit times and quantities of transported goods.
It also has an advantage due to the easing of cargo transports between Serbia and the EU as a result of Serbia’s current limited access to the international road freight transport market in some EU countries.
Despite the fact that we’re facing numerous challenges as a result of the works currently underway to improve Serbia’s rail infrastructure, which primarily manifest in the form of poorer transit times, we strongly support the efforts exerted by the state aimed at modernising the network and ensuring Serbia is even better connected with global cargo flows.
You often note that Dragon Maritime Group would not be what it is today without the kind of reliable partners it has. What forms the basis of your collaboration and those excellent relations?
We are proud of the fact that we’ve achieved very successful cooperation, since establishing our service in Serbia, with our long-term partners – railway operators, terminals and ports – by fostering mutual trust and support.
The future lies in modern technology and one of our upcoming priorities will be digital transformation and our inclusion in the global digital supply chain
We always strive for win-win cooperation, on the basis of our common interests and the identifying of solutions that are harmonised with the values of both parties.
We know that you work constantly on the introducing of new services. What is included in everything that you can currently offer clients, alongside container transports, cargo inspection, warehousing, freight forwarding etc.?
In accordance with economic trends and changes to the business climate, our company strives to diversify its operations to the maximum possible extent. Our aim is to be able to offer our clients a “one-stop shop”. It is our belief that the future lies in modern technology and one of our upcoming priorities will also be digital transformation and our inclusion in the global digital supply chain. We are working actively on the introduction of digital platforms that are able to track the entire course of cargo flows.
We see Belgrade as a regional hub for the development of intermodal transport on the territory of Southeast Europe and our goal is to contribute to an even better connection of Serbia with the world flows of goods, through new logistics solutions and transport routes.