DB Cargo has announced it will offer a new series of rail connections to and from the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp, linking them with important economic hubs in Germany.
In a statement the company said the connections, due to be launched in 2021, will increase volume by approximately 100,000 TEU every year.
Sigrid Nikutta, Board Member for Freight Transport at Deutsche Bahn and CEO of DB Cargo, said: “We are constructing the same kind of connections for our customers in Antwerp and Rotterdam that have proven so successful for many years in other ports like Hamburg.
“The new departures from the western ports alone will take 70,000 lorries off the roads, relieving both infrastructure and the environment.”
DB Cargo said it and subsidiary TFG Transfracht are putting more goods on the rails, with daily connections to all important terminals at the ports. From here, customer goods are transported onwards in both combined transport and single wagon freight.
Even sectors with fluctuating volumes, such as the chemicals industry, can take advantage of the new connections.
Cargo volumes are transported from the ports and bundled at Kijfhoek. The Netherlands’ largest shunting yard is ideally located between Antwerp and Rotterdam. From here, the cargo is taken to its destination overnight by fast direct trains.
The ports at Antwerp and Rotterdam handle 27 million TEU per year but only around 8-11% of the freight processed here arrives by rail. It is a different story at Europe’s third-largest port in Hamburg, where trains bring over half of the cargo handled.
