New location will serve as hub for transports from South of Austria.

Effective immediately, transport-logistician cargo-partner will start offering its services through the wholly-owned office at Graz Airport. The Eastern European network established by the Austrian air and sea freight specialist has received worldwide attention in recent years and the company plans to reach the absolute top overseas business position in Styria within a year.

According to Stefan Krauter, cargo-partner's executive chairman, 'We have experienced above-average growth in recent years and we have just ended a very successful 2005 with a more than 30% increase in sales. Our main growth areas were Eastern European countries, as well as Germany, which is our most important air and sea freight market in Europe. Now that we have developed a strong Eastern European network we would like to get closer to our customers on the home market here in Austria. The establishment of a wholly-owned office at Graz Airport is crucial for cargo-partner for both strategic and operational reasons.'

The independent Austrian company has already opened close to 40 offices in 13 European countries since its establishment in 1983. Except for Austria, Germany and France, cargo-partner has a presence in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. Since 2005 it has also been in Ukraine. The company plans to open its offices in the seaports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam in the near future.

The consolidated turnover of the whole corporate group in 2005 totalled approximately 190 million Euros, which means a sales growth of more than 30% in comparison to the company's turnover in 2004 (142 million Euros). In a regional split, more than 40% of turnover was generated in Eastern Europe; Austrian business accounted for round 37%; and more than 20% of the turnover was generated in Germany and France. Approximately half of the total turnover was generated by air freight. Sea freight accounted for 40%, and the remaining 11% was generated by 'trucking/logistics' ' a rapidly developing third pillar of operations.

The Austrian offices of cargo-partner are located in Fischamend, N' (company's headquarters), at Vienna-Schwechat Airport, at Linz-H'rsching Airport as well as at Graz Airport from January 20, 2006.

The new office of cargo-partner at Graz Airport is managed by Otto Zsivkovits, an experienced shipping professional. 'Although we have successfully served our customers from Styria for two decades, this has been done through our corporate headquarters in Fischamend close to Vienna until the present day. Together with the establishment of our office in Graz we plan to acquirie a significant number of new customers. Above all, we believe that the new location will be extraordinarily attractive as an advantageous hub for our customers from regions bordering Austria, such as Hungary, Slovenia or Croatia'.

Otto Zsivkovits, Branch Manager in Graz, views primarily the southern ports in Koper, Rijeka and Triest as natural hubs for the Styria region.

Currently, cargo-partner benefits the Styrian economy mainly through overseas exports handled for engineering as well as wood and food processing industries. As far as imports are concerned, the majority of shipments come from the Far East. They usually contain textiles and articles of daily use. Thanks to the local presence, Otto Zsivkovits anticipates 'a strong push in the next years,' and he promises very 'direct market operations,' especially in the air freight area.