Gebrüder Weiss resurrects ancient trade routes via Georgia

With about 6,000 employees and 150 company-owned locations, Gebrüder Weiss is one of the leading transport and logistics companies in Europe.

 

Today Gebrüder Weiss is the largest provider of logistics and transportation services in the Caucasus, and we are trying to put the Silk Road back on the global trade map, with Georgia at its heart.

 

We have been providing transportation services here since 2012. In 2013 we constructed a logistics centre outside of Tbilisi, financed by the EBRD, and started offering transport logistics services.

 

We transport from Europe all kinds of dry goods, cars, textiles and appliances. We ship back mineral water, wine and other agricultural produce. We work with all of Georgia’s trading partners, from Germany and Austria to Turkey, and we also use our Tbilisi logistics centre to deliver goods to Armenia.

 

As a specialist, I can see the massive transit potential of Georgia.

 

The country’s geopolitical importance was well understood by leaders of various regional empires. Georgia is a gateway to the Caspian and beyond: the route via Georgia and then Kazakhstan is the shortest from Europe to China. Georgia can and should become a trans-Caucasian hub in terms of transportation and logistics.

 

Local mentality is also an asset: Georgians know how to do business both with Europeans and with Asians.

 

Gebrüder Weiss is a pioneer in the sector as the first major player in the region. But we would be happy to see more competitors coming to the market. It sounds counterintuitive but it would help us to shape the market more after a European model, to help companies see that outsourcing to specialists makes much better business sense.

 

To fully benefit from its position, though, Georgia should develop its own exports. Georgian industries need to adopt the EU’s higher standardisation and certification requirements.

 

But the EU also needs to be more open to Georgian goods, particularly food, which already deserve a place on the tables of Europe.

 

Alexander Kharlamov is General Manager, Gebrüder Weiss