Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) Italiane have agreed to develop a new firm specialising in intermodal transport and logistics.
Developing intermodal sea and rail transport with greater and more effective synergies to expand the freight transport logistics network to and from Italian and European ports, with the creation of a Newco to build new terminals.
The collaboration aims to enable the creation of new terminal capacity based on the development of maritime intermodal traffic, to and from Italian ports, improving the quality of services and providing a competitive alternative to road transport as well as on the Italy-Northern Europe axis.
The agreement provides for the establishment of a new company jointly owned by Mercitalia Logistics (51 per cent) and MEDLOG (49 per cent), an MSC Group company specialising in intermodal transport and logistics, to design, build and operate new cargo terminals at sites controlled by the two groups in Italy.
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Sabrina De Filippis, CEO of Mercitalia Logistics, said: “The Memorandum signed with a major international partner, confirms the FS Group’s commitment to becoming the European logistics player.
“The agreement is part of the initiatives envisaged in our Business Plan, providing for the strengthening of existing terminals and the creation of new technologically advanced and low environmental impact multimodal hubs.
“This will enable us to increase the volume of goods transported by train, thanks to the increasingly effective connection of our ports and terminals to the national network and to European railway corridors, consolidating the integration of sea-rail-road transport systems.”
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Giuseppe Prudente, Chief Logistics Officer of the MSC Group and President of MEDLOG, stated: “We strongly believe in the partnership between our groups. This important agreement is the result of a project that began with the ambition of creating one of the most important operators in Europe, offering customers optimised and ever more sustainable logistics solutions.
“In addition, reducing the use of long-distance road transport contributes not only to lowering emissions but also to greater safety and quality of life for our employees.”
In September, MSC Nicola Mastro, a 24,166 TEU containership owned by MSC, was christened in Trieste, Italy.
