High-potential rail connections between Lower Rhine and Hamburg

08 Nov 2019 09:15 Hinterland

With its enormous choice of worldwide liner services, the Port of Hamburg is of immense importance to business on the Lower Rhine for handling imports and exports. An annual transport volume of around 550,000 TEU – 20-ft standard containers – makes the state of North Rhine-Westphalia the second most important region for the Port of Hamburg’s hinterland container transport. A total of 70 container block-train services per week ensure reliable connections between Hamburg and intermodal terminals in Bönen, Dortmund, Duisburg, Cologne, Minden and Warstein.
 
One leading container block-train operator is neska Intermodal. Its network covers the container terminals: CTS in Cologne, UCT Dormagen, DCH in Düsseldorf, KCT Krefeld and RRT in Duisburg. To offer customers maximum possible flexibility, and alternatives to services to Western ports, the network’s Northern terminal – RRT in Duisburg – and its southernmost one – CTS in Cologne – are now being linked by rail with high-performance, ecological and economical products at low cost with German seaports, and especially the Port of Hamburg. Since June 2018 the Rhine-North Sea Xpress" – RNX – has linked in Duisburg’s RRT with the Port of Hamburg, with three weekly departures since the beginning of 2019. RNX’s rotation also connects the Bremen Roland hub, Bremerhaven, JadeWeserPort in Wilhelmshaven and Bönen’s RuhrOst logistics centre.
 
Since May 2019, Cologne has again been linked intermodally with Hamburg for seaborne container transport. Together with IGS in Hamburg, three weekly rotations are offered. The service connects Aschaffenburg and Schweinfurt in Bavaria alternately. This provides the additional opportunity to reach Western ports as well as German seaports via the Cologne hub.
 
“Both services run to a stable schedule with rapid transit times. They supply good back-up for our own inland waterway and rail services,” says Oliver Haas, General Manager Project Management for CTS Container Terminal. “With our high-performance terminals, we guarantee the maximum possible flexibility in secure logistics systems that is called for by logistics companies, initial shippers and final consignees.” Haas stated that for the future, an increase in frequencies is planned. The necessary capacities are already available at all the group’s handling facilities.
 
In organizing shipments, neska Intermodal takes ecological aspects into account. This involves not just using ‘carriers with the best possible environmental record, but also reducing the shipments by truck for pre- and post-carriage runs at the various terminals on the Lower Rhine. In addition, the number of truck journeys is being cut by using shuttle services or dropping off at loading points.
 

High-potential rail connections between Lower Rhine and Hamburg