Lithuania is the emerging gateway to East Europe and Asia: Arijandas SLIUPAS

(As published in Consignments)

Arijandas SLIUPAS

Lithuania, a member country of European Union, has potential to become most attractive destination for investments due to the country’s strategic geographical location that connects the shipping lines, roads and the country now plans to develop air transport hub connecting global players to Eastern Europe and CIS countries.

Lithuania’s vice minister for transport and communication Mr Arijandas SLIUPAS was in Dubai in February to promote cooperation between UAE and Lithuania.  Mr SLIUPAS in an exclusive interview with us speaks about Lithuania’s vision 2030 to become active international player in the global supply chain.

Discussing on why any business should choose Lithuania as a hub the minister explains the country has a lot of similarities to UAE when it comes to intermodal link between sea, land and air connectivity. “Lithuania is situated on an axis between western Europe, Eastern Europe and especially to the entrance point to CIS countries like Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. It is far more cost effective compared to Western European distribution hub because of its custom and setup cost benefits and entry point to Eastern Europe, CIS and biggest Asian market like China through Kazakhstan.”

“With an aim to promote business environment for international business fraternity we focussed on our organic growth developing our multimodal infrastructure and improved our intermodal terminals including ports, railway terminals and airports. We have international railways and highways that support goods flow across the borders,” he added.

The country has promising economy with almost 14 per cent of the GDP growth contributed by their transport sector. Also According to Mr SLIUPAS, 90 per cent of businesses registered in Lithuania serve international markets. He says, “As trade between the EU and Asia is over € 552 billion and it is still growing, transport plays important role in trade. We aim to be an active international player in the supply chain to reach the level, where 2.3 per cent traffic passing between Asia and Europe passes through Lithuania.”

“In realising this goals we are working to build international partnerships not only in Europe but beyond with hubs like UAE. Lithuania connects markets like northern Europe, which has 110 million population, CIS countries with 250 million and the Western Europe with 340 million. What we offer to businesses is quality infrastructure and cost effective supply chain solutions,” SLIUPAS said adding that the land-sea-air infrastructure are tested to be successful and goods coming from middle east or far east  can be distributed as far as 1000 km diameter in 48 hours.

The country has invested in expanding the earlier two economic zones to seven with diversification. Key growth industries in the country remain food processing, light industry etc. But Mr SLIUPAS projects his country as services industry, particularly in transport sector.  “We are a service focused country with limited but smart human resources. We have a non-freezing port in Europe and Baltic highway, which is international. However our main economic zone remains Kleipeda, where we have multimodal hub for road, rail and sea port. While Kaunas freezone is centrally located and is a convergence for all modes of transport including rail, road, air and sea.

Investor benefits

Lithuania has designed a investor friendly economy with  attractive tax benefits for international businesses. According to Mr SLIUPAS companies registered under Lithuanian freezones enjoy tax free period for first six years and only 50 per cent tax for another ten years. There are special establishment incentives on real estate tax and government service benefits. "We on a governmental level has introduced benefits for foreign direct incentives and we provide organisations with establishment support of 25 per cent in the total cost," he said. Mr SLIUPAS also says that Scandinavian countries strongest partners are Germany and Russia.

Logistics infrastructure

The Lithuania is the junction where the railway- gauges interchange between Russia and Europe and we have invested in developing an intermodal terminal at Kaunas. "We have an intermodal terminal Kaunas and air cargo facilities will be connected to air a cargo facility, which is at only 6 km distance in two years," Mr SLIUPAS said.  

In addition to the existing infrastructure, transport ministry of Lithuania has reserved territories in the airport to expand cargo facilities. The expansions will be undertaken to match demand growth.

Asian connections

Lithuania's largest connectivity to Asian markets is by rail, the biggest market in the region China is connected through Kazakhstan. "We have special container trains from China via Lithuanian territories that are operated by the private companies. We have special interest in Chinese market and have Lithuanian railway representative office that works jointly with Chinese companies.  We believe in partnership that nurtures mutual benefits," Mr SLIUPAS said.

Lithuania has cooperation with companies in UAE, however, the country now seeks government partnership in various areas including food processing, logistics and creating new trade routes.

The future

Vision 2030 aims to be active player in supply chain, where two biggest markets like Asia and Europe are connected through Lithuania.  "We are looking into critical partnership with countries and hubs like UAE are very important partners, SLIUPAS said. In conclusion the minister, welcomed companies take advantage of Lithuania's strategic location and business set up incentives. He says that as emerging markets are evolving Lithuania welcomes innovators to leverage on opportunities by the gateway country.

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RAK International Airport woos airlines with no limit on slots

As published in Airport Cities

Ras Al Khaimah International Airport, situated in the industrial hub of UAE Ras Al Khaimah which enjoys accessibility to Ajman, Umm Al-Quwain and Fujairah and 45 minutes away from Dubai, welcomes airlines with to start operations by offering unlimited slots. The airport is second base in UAE for one of Middle East’s largest LCC Air Arabia. The emirate is one of the favourite destinations for tourists because of its quieter and affordable attractions. The RAK Tourism Development Authority recently reported nearly 1.5 million guest nights for the first time for the January-to-September period in 2014, which is a 72 percentage growth compared to last year figures.

With strong industrial sector and booming tourism sector the emirate is hoping to build its aviation infrastructure to attract more and more international carriers to start operating from RAK International Airport.  Ras Al Khaimah International Airport CEO Mohammed Qazi discussed the facilities and future opportunities in an exclusive interview.

Speaking on the accessibility for air slots, Mr. Qazi says, “RAK airport is one of the few airports in UAE with no restrictions on the slot round the clock. For any airline wanting to operate, the airport is probably best interms of available slots but also for handling catering or any other services provided for the airline.” According to Mr. Qazi, what stands out is the operational performance and unique passenger experience RAK Airport offers. The airport is designed for a quick turnaround for aircrafts. By avoiding air bridges RAK enables the passengers to directly walk into the terminal after landing. RAK Airport has invested substantially in developing infrastructure to process immigration very quickly.

“We work very closely with border control authorities so that when a passenger arrives the desks are open and functioning. These are some unique features of RAK Airport in addition to the much lower cost for the commercial package offered by us. We are offering better incentives and the airport is situated at an accessible distance from both ends, particularly for anyone coming from the north of Sharjah, there is much less traffic,” he added. The airport also provides free parking for passengers.

On speaking what airport is taking these offerings to the world; Mr. Qazi says, “It’s never easy to market an airport to a passenger because people don’t travel from airport to airport they go to airport to because they travel in airline so our market is to target airlines. We go to specific events and media in terms of events we go to events like routes conference where you can promote your airport to airlines and we go to specially journals and magazines.

After Air Arabia started operating from RAK International airport the number of destination the airport connects to are around 7; however the airport plans to connect to 30 destinations by the end of 2015. “Thirty destinations by the end of 2015 is quite an aggressive growth plan, we are working very closely on our route development strategy with the Civil Aviation Authority of RAK after Air Arabia started servicing from the airport. We believe it can be achieved as long as we remain focused and work in partnership with our partners,” Mr. Qazi said.

According to Mr. Qazi key markets the airports looks into inline with Air Arabia’s profile anything up to 5 hrs flying distance, are Central Asian markets India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and towards Eastern Europe, CIS region Russia as well as Africa and GCC and Gulf countries.

The airport features a 2000 sqm cargo terminal designed in such a fashion that it moves cargo very quickly. “It is not storage based cargo terminal instead it is designed as a transit cargo airport. Presently we are working with Air Arabia to grow the cargo business, particularly on the perishable Cargo side of the business.” Mr. Qazi said.

Supporting the industrial sector in RAK

Ras Al Khaimah is an emirate with booming industrial activities and is home to largest bulk handling port in the MENA, Saqr Port as well as huge companies like RAK Ceramics, Julphar Pharmaceuticals and international brands such as The Waldorf Astoria, Gulf Oil, Arc International, Ashok Leyland, Knauf and China Harbour.

To support this industrial growth RAK international Airport is leveraging its capacities to establish a free zone, which will primarily attract aviation related business and tailor made package for businesses based in RAK. “It’s not one solution or offer for everyone rather its more focused and tailored based on the necessities between us and the investment partner who is investing in RAK.” Mr. Qazi explains.

Feeding the tourism sector

An airport plays key role in raising the profile of any tourism destination and connecting it to the other places. When it comes to RAK, the emirate has a very cohesive strategy for tourism development. “RAK airport works with tourism authorities, airlines, hotels, tour operators and destination management companies alike to promote RAK as tourism destination. We see positive developments as a number of new hotels opened this year there some more in the pipeline.”

RAK had a total of 500o hotel keys this year and it is expected to grow 500 per cent in next 24 months. Some of the resorts established in RAK are best in the region; still the price range is far more attractive than similar resorts within the country. “RAK is becoming very popular with short breaks or long weekend breaks particularly for tourists from GCC. We have two target markets - the Europeans, who stay around 7-10 days and we have GCC, travellers who stay around 3-4 days.” Mr. Qazi said adding that RAK, climate wise is fairly cooler than other emirates and tourist get more of traditional Arabian feel and more of a holiday feel against a holiday spent in city, where you spend half of your time in traffic jams.

In addition to world class hotels and resorts, the charter services offered in RAK is an important business. “We target a number of tour operators in Charter and it bring a significant amount of tourists to RAK, so Charter is top of the agenda specially for the winter  flying programme, which we have every year. We remain keen to grow our charter business further as it is one of the main part of our business strategies,” Mr. Qazi said.

Expounding further on the charter business he says the RAK Airport’s offerings to a charter operator depends on the frequency it brings and they are incentivised quite generously. Mr. Qazi also says Charter Operators have expressed satisfaction saying RAK Airport offers are best they have come across.

Looking forward

An airport RAK International needs multiple strategies to be successful, you need to build clusters and have to work on all of them simultaneously. According to Mr Qazi, Air Arabia definitely is a very important component of RAK Airport’s strategy and working together at operation front it has been a success. In terms of airport’s support to Air Arabia, the airline has almost zero issues. “Second phase of this is to develop this further and put together a joint route development strategy, which we have started. Then we got strategy towards charter business and we are pursuing that,” Mr Qazi said.

Further he says, “In addition to above, RAK has got its private aviation business – Dana Jet, I am the CEO for that business, we are pushing in business on this front too. However, RAK Airport also woos private aviation companies for FBO and developing facilities to provide business aircrafts maintenance, hangar services and flight operation services.

The other areas of business RAK Airport exploring include live factory management, training and the proposed freezone. “The live factory management will dismantle and scrap aircrafts. We have gone through request proposal stage and have received interests. We are also pleased that our search has narrowed down to one supplier, however an official announcement will be made in the due course of time,” Mr Qazi informed.

RAK Airport is also exploring opportunities in training and it is in talks with a few companies to move their training facility in to the airport. “As you know aviation sector in the region is suffering shortage in well trained staff, training is a potential market,” Mr Qazi hopes. Moreover, the proposed freezone is going to be a key player in strategy going forward. The airport is also working on the plans to integrate freezone with the cargo operation to attract freight forwarders.

“These are the revenue streams, that we have to prioritize and work simultaneously to make RAK Airport successful hub for business and leisure alike,” Mr. Qazi concluded.

The airport had gone from being a home base for a struggling carrier to being the base for most successful LCC in the Middle East within a few weeks and with a holistic approach for the future growth it undoubtedly a future hub for both passenger and cargo growth in the UAE.

Maximus Air plans to expand oversized cargo market in the region

(as published in Consignments Nov 2014)

Pic: maximus.aero

Maximus Air is one of the largest all-cargo operators in the Middle East, offering a full and comprehensive complement of air cargo charters to destinations around the globe. Based in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE, the carrier’s new CEO Mohamed Ebrahim Al Qassimi says the carrier is looking into exciting opportunities in catering, VIP air cargo, and freight forwarding sectors as it looks to expand its business opportunities. In a Q&A with consignments Mr Qassimi shares how Maximus is trying to increase the value of its input from every aspect of its operations.

Mr Qassimi says, “As you know Maximus Air was established in 2005 and is the biggest cargo charter operator in the region. Though we have a small number of aircraft, we offer sub chartering and leasing services that give us an expanded reach across the globe. As of now we are trying to integrate services such as VIP Cargo that revolve around government and private charters; we are also focusing highly on private sector services where we have achieved  20 per cent growth. As this growth continues the need for more aircrafts to serve the sector will increase. Also Maximus continues to specialise in carrying over sized cargo that cannot be carried by normal freighter aircrafts in the market.”

Maximus is trying to capture the business opportunities in the private charter as well as growing its existing specialisation in oversized cargo transportation.  Specialised cargo includes anything from military tanks and trucks to equipment used by the region’s booming petrochemical industry. 

According to Mr Qassimi the carrier operates a fleet that includes the Antonov 124 and Ilyushin 76aircraft that are capable of carrying a diverse range of cargo to both established major airports and remote landing strips. “Antonov 124 can lift above 120 tonnes and that’s where we specialize in this part of the world; we are experts in carrying oversized cargo and we want to strengthen our business in this sector,” Mr. Qassismi said.

Mr. Qassimi also said that the company flies two Ilyushin 76 that have a capacity of 40 tonnes. He also points out that Maximus is the only logistics company in Middle East with an Antonov 124 fleet, and that the company leases and sub charters hundreds of flights on a regular basis from major airlines like Emirates and Etihad.

Speaking about the key markets Maximus focuses; he said that with the growth of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the rest of Gulf as a logistics corridor for the world, Maximus is committed to providing services to the regional market. “As we are a cargo operator we fly all over the world from Europe, Brazil, Russia, Mexico to Africa and Asia. But our market concentration is currently in the Indian Subcontinent, Middle East, and Africa,” Mr. Qassimi said.

Maximus Air has served Chinese and far eastern markets; however according to Mr. Qassimi markets like the Far East are not easy to penetrate. Moreover the market is well known for supplying handy goods and electronics which can be loaded to any normal aircraft. However, he reiterated that if there was a demand for oversized cargo to transport goods to the region, Maximus is well equipped to serve the market. 

Speaking about the ‘Care by Air’ initiative coined by Fathi Hilal Buhazza, the former CEO of Maximus Air, Mr Qassimi said that the carrier still serves humanitarian organisations like UN and Red Crescent, but not under the ‘Care by Air’ brand naming. “The cause remains and we still carry humanitarian aid just the way it was when we flew eight aircrafts of vaccinations to Nepal. We have linked our services to the UN, not officially but in a way that we are agent in humanitarian aid,” he says.

In conclusion Mr Qassimi shares his future vision for the carrier and said that Maximus plans to increase its fleet. “We have unique aircraft that serve the cargo industry and our future investment is to procure equipment to handle oversized cargo on the tarmac. In terms of growth in revenue, we are targeting at least 15 to 20 per cent year on year growth by next year.”