First ever intermodal TIR operation between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the EU was launched this week, with a container leaving the UAE bound for Europe under a single customs transit document and a single guarantee
Leaving from SAIF Zone in Sharjah, the container was bound for Olomouc in the Czech Republic via Jebel Ali Port in the UAE and the port of Hamburg, Germany. The goods are travelling by land and sea using TIR, the global customs transit and guarantee system.
TIR offers huge potential for improving transit connectivity between ports and borders with free zones and integrating them into the global logistics chain.
The UAE?s strongest trading partners are India and China ? both part of the TIR network ? reinforcing the potential for the transit tool to transform trade along these corridors.
Mohammed Jumaa Busaiba, director general of the federal customs authority in Dubai, said, ?Using TIR in our intermodal transport increases substantially the UAE?s global competitiveness.?
The first TIR intermodal transport operation is the result of cooperation across the public and private sectors, with work from IRU together with UAE member ATCUAE, Federal Customs Authority (FCA), German member BGL, Czech member CESMAD Bohemia and the Czech customs administration. It involved the opening of a new customs office for TIR at Sharjah ? the SAIF Zone.
Preparations for roll-out across all seven emirates are progressing, with plans for further TIR intermodal transport operations in the pipeline.
This latest development for improved logistics in the region, marked at ceremonies at Sharjah SAIF Zone and then Jebel Ali port, highlights the dynamic road transport landscape across the GCC states, which will take centre stage at the IRU World Congress, to be held in Muscat, Oman, from 6-8 November.
The transport operator behind the intermodal transport of Miele goods is Kuehne + Nagel, UAE, one of the world?s leading logistics companies. Metrans, Germany will take over on the leg from Germany to the Czech Republic. Kuehne + Nagel is also participating in the World Congress, sharing insight into innovation and disruption in the logistics sector.
