Metrans will offer block train services from the Port of Hamburg to Ludwigshafen and Basel/Weil am Rhein, the Company said in a press release.
The rail operator Metrans is expanding its intermodal network. In future, the rail subsidiary of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) will offer block train services from the Port of Hamburg to Ludwigshafen and Basel/Weil am Rhein, as well as from Ludwigshafen to Basel and back. Services will begin on 6 October 2013. The trains will each run three times a week. These new routes will enable Metrans to access the Swiss market for the first time. The traction services are carried out in cooperation with partner SBB Cargo International.
Harald Rotter, Managing Director of Metrans Deutschland GmbH, explains: “Given the strong demand from our customers, we are expanding our activities in south-west Germany and to Switzerland. This means we are able to offer our customers attractive intermodal services also for the economic regions of Mannheim/Ludwigshafen and Basel/Weil am Rhein. Following our success in establishing links to Leipzig, Nuremberg and Munich over the past few months, the services to Ludwigshafen and Basel/Weil am Rhein represent further additions to our network in Germany and Switzerland consistent with our strategy. There are plans for a second phase to connect the domestic SwissSplit network operated by SBB Cargo to Metrans trains.”
Using high-frequency shuttle train systems, Metrans connects the ports of Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Duisburg and Koper with economic hubs in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Turkey, Austria, Germany and, in future, Switzerland. Core elements of Metrans’ services include having its own inland terminals and depots, particularly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria, as well as engines, carriages and reliable partners for railway traction – complemented by its own traction systems – and its own truck delivery service. This keeps costs down and ensures an optimum operating structure. In its hub and shuttle systems, Metrans makes use of the latest generation of special container carriages with low noise emissions. These container carriages and modern engines keep energy consumption low and ensure above-average performance.
The new destinations Ludwigshafen and Basel extend the Metrans network, keeping it in line with HHLA’s intermodal strategy. HHLA’s objective is to offer its customers a logistics chain of unparalleled quality and reliability. This will ultimately strengthen Hamburg’s position. High-performance seaport terminals promote a rise in volumes transported to the hinterland and intelligent transport systems with low-cost structures boost the number of containers handled by the port.