HHLA Subsidiary HCCR Integrated into Metrans Shuttle Train Network

In cooperation with Metrans, the HHLA subsidiary Hamburger Container- und Chassis-Reparatur-Gesellschaft (HCCR) has recently started to offer its customers transshipment of their empty containers onto Metrans trains right at its empties depot at Altenwerder Damm in Hamburg. The containers are then taken to their hinterland destinations on Metrans trains, thereby making unnecessary the truck-based transshipment of empties to the eastern docklands, which is both costly and harmful to the environment. The first customer to make use of this service was the Hamburg shipping company Hamburg Süd, with its first block train leaving the HCCR depot at the end of December.

Georg Böttner, Managing Director of HCCR, explains: “Together with Metrans, we are offering our customers a tailormade service which is financially attractive and ecologically sound. Until now, many shipping companies transported their empty containers from the HHLA container terminals in Altenwerder and Burchardkai for temporary storage to empties depots via the Köhlbrand Bridge. But now our customers can have their containers shipped directly from our depot to the hinterland on Metrans trains. This eliminates unnecessary container transshipment using trucks. This is an attractive offer, especially in view of the work which is due to be carried out on the Köhlbrand Bridge and the A7 motorway in 2014. We are therefore taking the strain off Hamburg’s busy public roads. This service is also financially attractive for our customers because of the HGV transshipments it eliminates. And what’s more, we are making our customers more flexible, because they can now accurately manage the movement of their empties from the Container Terminal Burchardkai to HCCR and vice versa, regardless of the situation on the roads and without losing out on the wide array of services offered by an empties depot.”

Ulrich Jasser, Senior Manager Logistics Region Europe, Hamburg Süd, welcomes the new service: “Hamburg Süd is a long-standing Hamburg company, so reducing the level of pollution in the city is especially important to us. Thanks to the cooperation with HCCR and Metrans, we can now also transport volumes that amount to less than a block train to the hinterland by rail, both cost-effectively and in a way that is environmentally friendly, without missing out on all of the usual depot services. Depending on the form of transport, we are reducing carbon emissions per box by between 17 and 19 kg and are also considerably reducing the emission of other harmful substances. Calculated for an entire train, we are cutting carbon emissions by around a tonne!”

Further inquiries

Karl Olaf Petters, Spokesman; Phone +49-(0)40-3088-3521

Florian Marten, Head of Corporate Communications; Phone +49-(0)40-3088-3520