Page 20 - Port of Hamburg | Brochure | Port of Hamburg Magazine 2.2020

■ EXPORT GATEWAY
20 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | September 2020
vessel, whereas with a tramp ship the long lay time, or even dead freight may be invoiced. This flexibility by the container lines has hardly ever paid off so well for the shippers as today. Because of production stops among the automobile manufacturers, RoRo lines have consequently downsized their sailing schedules. Because of significant cargo delays, con- ventional shipping companies have also reduced or adjusted their departures.
ADVANTAGES HAVING THEIR OWN RAIL CONNECTIONS
In addition, MSC’s entire hinterland network is availa- ble for the customer’s project ‘crates and boxes’. De- ploying its own rail services, empty containers can be positioned cost-efficiently at more than 30 German hinterland depots and be brought back to the Port of Hamburg along the same route as full containers. High costs for temporary storage and stuffing the contain- ers in the seaport are avoided.
The Port of Hamburg is extremely well equipped for this type of logistics. It is rightly considered to be Eu-
rope’s biggest rail terminal, since some 12 percent of rail freight traffic in Germany has the Port of Hamburg as its origin or destination. The resulting high frequen- cy of train departures guarantees economical, re- source-saving logistics, and generally means that the containers reach their destinations within a day. This not only relieves the road network, but also reduces emissions by a good 75 percent.
Today MSC runs its own rail services between the Port of Hamburg and the hinterland terminals in Stutt- gart, Ulm, Munich, Nuremberg und Leipzig. Further trains interlink the hinterland with the MSC gate in Bremerhaven, as well as the Rhine terminals from Bonn to Duisburg with the MPET terminal in Ant- werp. This means one-stop shopping for project logis- tics. In MSC’s view, Hamburg would profit as an at- tractive loading port for ‘high & heavy’ cargo, if the authorization procedures and approach routes for these shipments could be simplified and quicker. In- vestment is also needed in extended terminal space for transhipment storage and handling of these spe- cial cargoes. ■
TODAY MSC RUNS ITS OWN RAIL SERVICES BETWEEN THE PORT OF HAMBURG AND THE HINTERLAND TERMINALS IN STUTTGART, ULM, MUNICH, NUREMBERG UND LEIPZIG
© MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company