Türkiye is emerging as an increasingly important logistics hub linking the Gulf, Eurasia and Europe, with the Middle Corridor and the Development Road project reinforcing the country’s central role in regional supply chains, International Transporters’ Association (UND) Executive Board Chairman Alper Özel said.
He argued that Turkish transporters were becoming harder to bypass at a time of geopolitical disruption and mounting pressure on traditional trade routes.
Özel said the Middle Corridor and the Development Road should be viewed together as routes that strengthen Türkiye’s position between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The Middle Corridor stretches from China through Central Asia and the Caspian basin to Türkiye and then Europe, while the Development Road envisages linking Iraq’s Al-Faw Port to Türkiye through a two-way highway and railway network.
The Turkish logistics sector has recently received a practical boost from Saudi Arabia’s decision to grant transit visas to Turkish truck drivers, reopening a key overland route to Gulf markets after roughly a decade of disruption.
Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said last week that the issue had been resolved as of April 9, allowing Turkish drivers to move goods into the Gulf through Saudi territory again.
The step restored a critical land corridor at a time when conflict-related disruptions in the Middle East were adding strain to supply chains.
Özel said the new visa regime would help Turkish exports reach Gulf destinations faster, adding that a truck loaded in Türkiye could unload in Saudi Arabia within seven or eight days.
He also said the sector hoped to return to earlier transport volumes, noting that the visa arrangement would cover a broad range of products from food to construction materials.
He added that European traders increasingly preferred Turkish transporters because of their flexibility and regional knowledge, even as fuel-price volatility and broader uncertainty continued to weigh on the market.
In that environment, Özel said, Türkiye’s role as a reliable logistics bridge was becoming more visible rather than less.
