International Bank for Economic Co-operation has provided funding of € 15.18 million to the Polish company Laude Smart Intermodal to finance the purchase of innovative intermodal freight railway containers and platforms of Russian and Belarusian production. The Chairman of the IBEC Board Denis Ivanov and the General Director of the Polish company Mr. Marcin Witczak signed the loan agreement and the surety agreement on August 27 at the IBEC headquarters. This is the first transaction to finance a Polish company in the new history of the Bank, as well as one of the most long-term projects in the current IBEC portfolio. The Agreement is signed for up to 7 years.
The main Laude activity is a comprehensive organization of transport of various cargo groups. In recent years, the company has been focusing on the development of rail transport using intermodal transport and innovative containers. Laude intermodal trains and their own Euroterminal on the Ukrainian-Polish border in Zamosc (Poland) allow the Polish company to effectively develop partnerships with customers in Europe, Russia, and Kazakhstan.
Usage of innovative containers allows to significantly optimize the structure of transported goods and to avoid the "empty" mileage of cars, filling goods flows in both directions. The importance of using such equipment is confirmed by support of the transaction on the part of the European Union, which encourages changes in the transport and logistics industry aimed at optimizing and greening transportation services. Laude receives special subsidies from EU funds for this project implementation.
During the signing ceremony, IBEC head Denis Ivanov emphasized that the deal is ideal for the Bank, as it fully complies with its mandate and meets the challenges the new IBEC is facing today. «By financing this project, we support foreign economic relations between companies from member countries of the bank, – clarified IBEC Chairman, – By developing the logistics infrastructure, we contribute to the integration processes between Russia, Poland, and more broadly, – the European Union. The environmental focus of the project, which promotes the introduction of resource-saving technologies in transport, is very important for IBEC as development institution».
Mr. Marcin Witczak, in turn, expressed gratitude to the Bank team, noted its high professionalism and expressed the hope that this transaction will be the starting point for productive cooperation between both parties in the future.