The 9th OSJD International Conference was held on 23 and 24 May in Baranovichi, Republic of Belarus and was attended by around 120 participants from 12 countries. UIC was represented by Mr Miklos Kopp, UIC Director for Freight, who presented UIC freight activities, the key developments in this field and took this opportunity to promote the next UIC Global Rail Freight Conference to be held in Tangier from 17 to 19 October 2012 at the kind invitation of Moroccan Railways (ONCF).

Among other participants were several representatives from OSJD, the International association “Coordinating Council on Trans-Siberian Transportation” (CCTT), OSJD affiliated enterprises (JSC “Rail Cargo Hungaria”, JSC “CTL Logistics”, LLC “JERID”, JSC “Railtech Slavjana”, JSC “PLASKE”, “Freightliner”) as well as representatives of national associations of freight forwarders and operators, transport companies and freight forwarders of Belarus, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. Also in attendance were representatives of railways such as Belarusian Railways (BC), Hungary (MAV), the Federal Republic of Germany (DB Schenker Rail), the Republic of Kazakhstan (KZH), Latvia (LDZ), the Republic of Lithuania (LG), the Republic of Poland (JSC “PKP Cargo”, LLC “PKP LHS”), Russian Federation (JSC “RZD”), the Czech Republic (JSC “CD Cargo”), the Republic of Estonia (EVR), and the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.

Mr Kalman Somodi, Secretary of the OSJD Committee, opened the Conference and addressed a welcoming speech to the participants, noting that “Belarusian Railways has deep historical roots and traditions of 150 years of activities”.

Welcoming the participants, First Deputy Head of Belarusian Railways Mr Vladimir Mikhailuk underlined the importance of the event for all participants in the transport process in order to further improve the efficiency of freight transport by rail between Europe-Asia-Europe, as well as informed participants about the activities of Belarusian Railways.

Presentations, reports and information addressed:

• The overall situation in the freight market, promising routes of international rail freight traffic, interaction with other modes of transport, the development of logistic centres
• Freight basis, the tariff policy and marketing, the competitiveness of rail transport, training and logistic customer service
• Technological aspects in organising cargo transportation on international routes, infrastructure and management of the transportation process, information support for freight traffic

The conference considered it advisable to continue holding conferences on freight transport in order to exchange experiences, discuss current issues of further cooperation on the basis of partnerships, long-term development and organisation of rail freight in the Eurasian rail space with the participation of international organisations, railways, transportation companies, shippers, operators, freight forwarders and other organisations involved in the transportation process.

At the end of the second day of the conference Belarusian Railways organised a technical tour to the Railway Museum in Baranavichi, where the participants could see the historical legacy of the “Belarusskaya chygunka” (Belorusian Railways) and the main stages of its development within the 150-year period.