Penang Hill, one of the most popular tourist attractions on Malaysia’s Penang Island, is set to receive a new eight-passenger gondola lift. The site is already served by a funicular railway with two railcars operating between the base and summit stations. Austrian cable car specialist Doppelmayr is now adding a modern aerial cable car system. Gebrüder Weiss managed the transportation of the cable car components: more than 60 containers were loaded at Doppelmayr’s production facility in Wolfurt, Austria, and transferred to the nearby freight terminal. From there, the cargo traveled by rail to Hamburg before continuing by sea to Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, Gebrüder Weiss operates three locations: Penang, Kuala Lumpur, and Johor Bahru.

“Managing a multimodal project of this scale requires precise coordination. Every transport mode must be carefully synchronized, and weather conditions at the ports must be closely monitored to avoid delays and additional costs,” says Michael Kramer, Key Account Manager Air & Sea at Gebrüder Weiss in Wolfurt. “Having our own locations at both ends of the supply chain was a major advantage. The teams in Wolfurt and Penang worked seamlessly together, ensuring that the entire shipment stayed on schedule.”

The containers were shipped from Austria to Malaysia in several partial consignments according to a fixed delivery schedule. After approximately 38 days at sea, each shipment arrived on time at the Port of Penang. The logistics specialists at Gebrüder Weiss Malaysia handled customs clearance and coordinated onward transportation to Penang Hill near Penang Island’s capital, George Town.

“As a global market leader in ropeway engineering, delivering major infrastructure projects around the world, we depend on reliable partners,” says Egon Vögel, Head of Shipping at Doppelmayr. “With Gebrüder Weiss, we have a logistics provider that manages complex transportation projects through its global network, efficiently and on schedule.”

The new Penang Hill Cable Car is scheduled to begin operations in 2026 and will improve access to one of the region’s most renowned destinations. The system will transport passengers from the lower terminal on the outskirts of George Town to the upper terminal at an elevation of about 720 meters (2,360 feet). The summit station is located within the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO-recognized protected area.

Doppelmayr has been a customer of Gebrüder Weiss for many years. The logistics provider supports the ropeway manufacturer worldwide with tailored transportation and logistics solutions, including overland transport as well as air and sea freight services for international projects and large-scale equipment deliveries.

Gebrüder Weiss is set to open a new country organization in Thailand on June 1, 2025. The international transport and logistics company is strengthening its market presence in Southeast Asia and expanding its network in one of the world's most economically dynamic regions.

“The new country organization allows us to close a strategic gap and create direct connections to central Asia-Pacific markets for our customers,” says Lothar Thoma, Managing Director Air & Sea at Gebrüder Weiss. “Thailand is an important export location with strong trade links to the USA, China, Japan, Australia, and Singapore – markets where we are also represented with locations of our own.”

In 2024, Thailand posted export volumes worth around 300 billion US dollars, up five percent on the previous year. Industrial goods account for the majority of outbound trade (86 percent), with key categories including electronics, vehicles, machinery, and food.

The team of 20 employees in Bangkok provides international air and sea freight transportation, customs handling, and national and cross-border land transport services. “Our employees have many years of experience in international transport management. In the medium term, we are aiming to expand our services in Thailand to include warehouse logistics, with a particular focus on the automotive and high-tech sectors,” says Cristian Predan, Area Manager South-East Asia at Gebrüder Weiss.

With its entry into the Thai market, Gebrüder Weiss now has an active presence in nine countries across the East and South-East Asia region and Oceania. These include Australia, Greater China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam. The regional network now spans 35 locations with around 800 employees.

The international transport and logistics company Gebrüder Weiss announces a five-year partnership with the prestigious Shanghai Maritime University (SMU). The company is giving students opportunities to gain practical insights into the logistics industry and also helping them get their careers off the ground. 

Gebrüder Weiss is committed to promoting up-and-coming talent in China’s higher education system and this joint program focuses on enabling knowledge transfer and career development. Through summer internships, students from the University’s College of Transport and Communications have the chance to gain first-hand experience in supply chain management.

“This means students can build up valuable practical experience and get to know all the different areas involved in logistics even while they’re studying,” explains Yongquan Chen, General Manager China at Gebrüder Weiss.

The company also incorporates its own industry expertise into the program. Through guest lectures and courses, for example, Yongquan Chen passes on his knowledge and experience to the next generation of supply chain managers.

“We teach the students about trends and developments in the logistics industry. At the same time, we help them make a start in their career journey, possibly even at Gebrüder Weiss,” says Chen. “This gives them a better understanding of the career prospects and challenges in the fast-paced world of logistics.”

Two SMU students have already started their internship at Gebrüder Weiss. They are discovering the full range of services that the company offers in China, from managing air, sea, and land transport to imports and exports, e-commerce, warehouse logistics, and supply chain management - everything that goes into organizing supply chains from start to finish. With 19 locations across China, Gebrüder Weiss operates as a partner for international industrial and commercial enterprises in the country’s key economic hubs.

Over in the Far East, international transport and logistics company Gebrüder Weiss is offering dedicated e-commerce solutions for some of China’s most prestigious baijiu brands. Made from fermented sorghum or other varieties of grain, baijiu is considered China’s national drink and is one of the world’s most popular spirits. Premium baijiu brands are considered luxury goods and a status symbol in China.

“We have set up a warehouse in the western Chinese city of Chengdu, complete with its very own team, and developed a logistics solution designed to meet the specific requirements for high-end spirit brands,” remarks Yongquan Chen, General Manager of Gebrüder Weiss in China. Gebrüder Weiss operates 19 branches in the Greater China region.

The company’s services include storage, packing, delivery throughout China, insurance options, shipment traceability, and professional customer service. As soon as a customer orders these products through any of China’s numerous online retail platforms, the relevant data is sent straight to Gebrüder Weiss for order fulfillment. The goods are then collected from the warehouse, inspected, provided with a code, and packed up before being shipped to the end customer by truck or air freight. Many of these famous spirits are produced in the area around Chengdu, a major metropolis in the province of Sichuan. Chengdu is the most modern and economically important city in Western China and serves as a key transport hub. Gebrüder Weiss has been running its own location here since 2006.

Gebrüder Weiss provides its services to baijiu brands, including Quanxing, Fenggu, Jiangkouchun, the Sichuan Liquor Group (Chidu), and Xiaojiaolou. “Gebrüder Weiss’ services have improved our logistics and reduced the amount of damage to our products during transport,” says Wang Xikai, Head of E-Commerce at Quanxing, “This has enhanced our customers’ shopping experience and is helping us to hold our own amid the tough competition in e-commerce.”

Premium spirit brands face a host of challenges when it comes to e-commerce and warehousing. “If the spirits themselves and the packaging are not professionally managed and tracked, this allows fake products to break into the market, which damages the brand’s reputation and undermines customer confidence,” explains Yongquan Chen. Flexibility, quick response times, and reliable customer service are crucial for enabling brands to adapt to changes in consumer structure and consumption patterns.

Traceability guarantees authenticity
Ensuring traceability throughout the process is essential: High-end baijiu products are expensive, and customers absolutely need to be able to trust that they are true originals. “The authenticity of any returned products needs to be verified too,” points out Yongquan Chen. “Our tracking and management system with unique QR codes and corresponding order numbers guarantees this.” The warehousing system assigns each order parcels or gift boxes in the right size. The customer service team is quick and professional in dealing with any after-sales issues, such as overdue orders or changes of address.

The international transport and logistics company Gebrüder Weiss is preparing for Türkiye’s growing appeal to European importers and exporters by making more specialists and transport connections available. The main focus is on transports between Türkiye and its key trading partner, Germany, as well as the Benelux countries. Early in December, as part of expanding its services, the logistics company fully integrated the recently-acquired freight forwarding company 3S Transport & Logistics into the Gebrüder Weiss Türkiye country organization. 

“The demand for transport on the Middle Corridor route is steadily increasing. Due to the increased transit volume, Türkiye is gaining further importance as a central logistics hub between Europe and Asia,” says Thomas Moser, Director and Regional Manager Black Sea/CIS at Gebrüder Weiss. The Middle Corridor runs from Europe through Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to China, providing an alternative route to the Northern Corridor, which runs through Russia. “Thanks to the fully integrated additional capacities of 3S Transport & Logistics, we are well prepared for this development. We are pleased that, as the transition period comes to an end, the rebranding process has reached a successful conclusion,” adds Mişel Yakop, Country Manager Gebrüder Weiss Türkiye. In addition to the location in Istanbul, the 3S Transport & Logistics location near Düsseldorf was also integrated into the Gebrüder Weiss organization. It acts as a center of competence for transports between Türkiye and Germany as well as the Benelux countries.

Gebrüder Weiss has been present in Türkiye for ten years with locations in Istanbul and Izmir and, since 2021, in Mersin on the eastern Mediterranean. The main activities of the 70 employees include partial-load transports as well as air and sea freight services, pharmaceutical and multimodal transports as well as warehouse logistics and customs clearance. All three locations play a central part in an axis of GW branches stretching across Central and South-Eastern Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia, where, along the New Silk Road, the logistics company is present with its own branches in Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and China. 
 

Gebrüder Weiss expands its partnership with Toyota Motor in Kazakhstan. The logistics provider has been handling spare parts distribution to the Japanese automaker’s dealers since this year in Almaty, the country’s largest city. Existing services include the transportation of automobiles throughout Kazakhstan, daily deliveries of parts within Almaty city and warehouse logistics.

The Kazakh market is very important for Toyota. In 2021, the automaker sold around 14,000 vehicles there – equivalent to a share of around twelve percent of the country’s total automotive market. “We want to continue growing in Kazakhstan. For this, we need a reliable logistics partner who is very familiar with the local situation. Gebrüder Weiss has been providing us with high-quality service for more than a decade,” says Damira Alpysbayeva, Logistics Manager at Toyota Motor Kazakhstan.

As the most important Central Asian trading partner, Kazakhstan is also an attractive growth market for companies from Germany and Austria. Austrian export goods include pharmaceuticals, machinery, measuring instruments, paper and metal goods, which are mainly used in the petroleum industry. Gebrüder Weiss has been represented in Kazakhstan since 2007 and is now an established logistics service provider for industry and trade. The service portfolio includes land transports (including multimodal), air and ocean freight services, customs, warehouse logistics and supply chain management. 

Central logistics hub on the New Silk Road
Kazakhstan is becoming increasingly important as a key handling point on the New Silk Road route – all the more so as alternative transport routes are currently in high demand due to the sanctions against Russia. The country also benefits from its favorable geographical location, which makes Kazakhstan an ideal hub for China’s trade in goods with Europe and West Asia. Gebrüder Weiss also operates locations along the New Silk Road in Türkiye, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan and China.

Given the steady rise in demand, Gebrüder Weiss is expanding the number of transport links on the New Silk Road to transport goods between Europe, Turkey and China. The focus here is on routes along the Middle Corridor of the historic trade route that run through Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to China. This route is geographically shorter and links up directly with services that Gebrüder Weiss operates every day between West and South-East Europe, Turkey and Tbilisi (Georgia). The Gebrüder Weiss logistics centers in Tbilisi and Almaty (Kazakhstan) will in future serve as hubs for the transport of goods, where they will then be transported by road, sea or rail along the New Silk Road, among other routes, to countries in Central Asia or even as far as China.

The company is preparing for a sharp rise in demand for transport capacity and will offer more truck transports along this route from now on. “We expect demand for road transports to increase as China re-opens its borders, having closed them as a result of the coronavirus. The fact that we have long-term contracts with reliable regional partners means that we can offer our customers sufficient cargo space, regular services and acceptable transport times”, says Thomas Moser, Director and Regional Manager Black Sea/CIS at Gebrüder Weiss.

Gebrüder Weiss has been supporting industrial and trading operations in the growing markets along the traditional trade route with transport and logistics solutions for more than 20 years, using its own branches in Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and China as a basis. It is from here that Gebrüder Weiss organizes direct connections between Europe and Asia, but also services within and between the countries of Central Asia. These services include truck and rail transports, air and sea freight, customs clearance, warehouse logistics and e-fulfillment.

With a new location in Mersin, the transport and logistics service provider Gebrüder Weiss has expanded its network in the south of Turkey. The activities carried out from the country’s second-largest port include air and sea freight services, as well as intermodal land transport. Mersin is a central logistics hub on the Mediterranean Sea for shipments to the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

“Turkey is an emerging growth market and, with its location on the Mediterranean Sea, an important freight handling facility for transports between Asia and Europe. Mersin represents another region being developed by us for our customers, following on from Istanbul and Izmir. Favorable transport connections to the Mediterranean region as well as the proximity to industrial operations in the hinterland are all advantages offered by the new location,” says Wolfram Senger-Weiss, CEO of Gebrüder Weiss. Mersin is connected to the northern economic centers of Kahramanmaras, Konya and Kayseri, from which mainly textile and agricultural products, chemical industry and mechanical engineering are exported. “The key factor is the location’s immediate proximity to producers. In addition to air and sea freight services, we also offer local customers pharmaceutical and multimodal transports as well as warehouse logistics and customs clearance,” adds Çiler Keskinel, Country Manager Air & Sea Turkey at Gebrüder Weiss.

Turkey becomes more important as a Silk Road hub 
The Country also serves an important gateway function on the so-called “Middle Corridor” of the New Silk Road towards Central Asia and China. This offers an alternative to the transports via the Northern Corridor through Russia, running from Turkey (Istanbul), Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan to China. “We have our own locations in most of the countries along the Middle Corridor and are familiar with the local legal and cultural particulars in these regions. We are also seeing increased demand from our customers for shipments on this route,” says Senger-Weiss. The transit time is currently between 35 and 45 days, as the route also crosses the Caspian Sea.

Mersin is the third Gebrüder Weiss location in Turkey, in addition to Istanbul and Izmir, where the company has been organizing partial-load transports along with air and sea freight services with 75 employees since 2012. By taking over the freight forwarder 3S Transport & Logistik last year, Gebrüder Weiss also further expanded its transports from Istanbul to Germany.

The transport and logistics service provider Gebrüder Weiss has transported 12,600 LED street luminaires and lamp posts to Mongolia via the New Silk Road rail route for the lighting group Zumtobel. Within twelve months, more than 80 containers were delivered on schedule from Austria to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. All this was done against the backdrop of an infrastructure project of the Mongolian government, for which the Zumtobel Group was commissioned two years ago to supply and install street luminaires.

Customized load securing
The risk of transport damage due to strong acceleration forces during train transport was eliminated by means of special load securing in the container. During the approximately 30-day journey, the nine-meter-long lamp posts were securely stored in specially made wooden racks that prevented the cargo from sliding around in their containers. Franco Ravazzolo, Head of Projects & Break Bulk at Gebrüder Weiss: “We recommended choosing the rail option via the New Silk Road to the customer Zumtobel because we wanted to avoid problems that would have arisen due to time delays in sea transport as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Alexander Rosa, Head of Sales Processes Zumtobel Austria: “What we’d already experienced with complex project transports by rail was one of the reasons why we chose Gebrüder Weiss. The recommendation to use rail transport has proven to be spot on. With the lighting project in Mongolia, we have tapped into a new market that promises further potential in the future.”

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The international transport and logistics service provider Gebrüder Weiss is taking over Istanbul-based 3S Transport & Logistics with effect from January 1, 2022. The Turkish forwarding company specializes in partial load transports between Turkey and its key trading partner Germany. With this step Gebrüder Weiss Turkey doubles its transport volume and positioning itself as a top player for transports with Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The takeover also means that 22 employees of 3S Transport & Logistics will move under the umbrella of Gebrüder Weiss Turkey.

“3S Transport & Logistics is a logistics service provider that has been firmly established on the Turkish transport market for many years and that we are now going to integrate into our organization. This will strengthen the position of our location in Istanbul as a strategic anchor, linking Europe and Asia and the New Silk Road,” explains Thomas Moser, Director and Regional Manager Black Sea/CIS at Gebrüder Weiss. 
“Our customers will have the benefit of access to a much broader range of services, and our employees have new prospects for the future,” say Ilhami Seval and Sehel Zenbil, the two former Managing Directors of 3S Transport & Logistics. Both will be on hand to support Gebrüder Weiss Turkey as consultants during the integration process. The takeover also includes an operational location in the Düsseldorf area with seven employees. “For Gebrüder Weiss in Turkey, this is an important step for our growth, and it is strengthening our service portfolio. We are looking forward to the cooperation,” adds Mişel Yakop, Country Manager Gebrüder Weiss Turkey.

Gebrüder Weiss has had a presence in Turkey since 2012 and currently has locations in Istanbul and Izmir. Its main activities include partial load transports as well as air and sea freight services. Istanbul is at the heart of an axis of Gebrüder Weiss branches stretching across Central and South-Eastern Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia, providing links to the New Silk Road corridors.

The Austrian Foreign Trade Centre Almaty (Kazakhstan) has presented Gebrüder Weiss with the Silk Road Biz Award 2021. The prize was awarded for successfully completing a major project in which Gebrüder Weiss transported 35 dredgers from the Netherlands to the eastern Turkmen city of Kerki. The dredgers, each weighing 90 tons, are used to keep rivers and canals free of sand and sediment deposits coming from the nearby Karakum Desert. The project, which lasted for a year, involved breaking down the dredgers into components and then transported on heavy load trucks via the New Silk Road to Turkmenistan.

Thomas Moser, Director and Regional Manager Black Sea/CIS at Gebrüder Weiss: “The award demonstrates that we are on the right track with our Central Asia strategy by including truck and railway transports along the New Silk Road in our portfolio at an early stage. The countries of Central Asia are becoming increasingly important for European exporters. Shippers and investors looking to develop new markets there can also draw on the country-specific expertise of our branches in Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and China.”

The panel of judges said: “Gebrüder Weiss has not only demonstrated the extent of its expertise relating to transports along the Silk Road, but it is also helping Turkmenistan to develop its water supply and agriculture on a sustainable basis. The Silk Road Biz Award 2021 therefore goes to Gebrüder Weiss in recognition of the skill shown in handling such a complex operation in a difficult environment. Congratulations!”

The series of transports to Turkmenistan completed last year in June is one of the largest projects handled by Gebrüder Weiss in the region to date. An average of eight heavy load and a total of 254 oversize transporters were used per dredger along the 7,000-kilometer route. After being dismantled, the components for each dredger had to be loaded in the exact order required for reassembly at the destination.

The dredgers are of existential importance for the Central Asian state’s population and agricultural operations. They safeguard the vital supply of water from the Amu Darya, keeping its canal and river courses free of sand deposits at all times.