By Our Reporter
Qalaa Holdings an African infrastructure company hosted an event that laid groundwork to stimulate significant improvement in bilateral trade between Egypt and East African countries.
The one-day conference themed ‘Rift Valley Railways: An Integrated Logistics Solution in East Africa’ highlighted the competitive advantages of using rail as the most efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly mode of transporting goods in East Africa. Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was introduced as a unique door-to-door transportation and customs-clearance service provider that can help local exporters from Egypt, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan tap into new markets and grow the volume of intra-regional trade.
Karim Sadek, Qalaa Holdings Managing Director and Head of Transportation and Logistics and Andreas Heinel, RVR Chief Marketing Officer, presented the RVR’s achievements during the past five years. They also gave a snapshot of the door-to-door service that the company is now able to provide to Egyptian exporters through its subsidiary EARH (East Africa Rail and Handling).
“RVR is currently at the midpoint of a US$ 287 million capital investments and turnaround program that began in January 2012 to revitalize the railway. Since the start of the renewal program, we have invested US$ 126 million in modern rail operating technology, rebuilding infrastructure, expanding haulage capacity and developing modern rail operating skills in RVR’s 2,000 strong workforce. Today we are seeing improved safety and reliability, increased capacity and a significant improvement in the overall efficiency of the operation,
