On Friday 11 October, the Rotterdam container was placed on 'Noah's train' under the great interest of all participating European rail operators, Port of Rotterdam said in its release.
This took place at the APMT terminal on Rotterdam Maasvlakte. The colourful train with 19 painted wagons arrived yesterday at the container terminal following a tour of Katowice, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Leipzig, Munich, Luxembourg, Riga and Madrid.
The tour, which started on 4 December 2018, is a Rail Freight Forward (RTF) initiative, a collaborative venture of around 20 rail operators in Europe. RTF aims to achieve 30 percent of freight transport by rail by 2030; this is currently 18 percent. According to the initiators, if this objective is achieved it will save an annual 1 million trucks on the roads and will reduce CO2 emissions by 290 million tonnes. The campaign ‘Noah’s Train’ matches the Port Authority’s ambition to transform Rotterdam into a climate-neutral port.
Rotterdam’s contribution was painted by Nina Valkhoff, which means that ‘Noah’s Train’ is now complete and the containers will be distributed, separately, across the world. One container is going to the climate conference in Chile. The Rotterdam version will stay on Maasvlakte for the time being. One of the four sides of this steel cargo container is still blank and will soon be located at the car park of FutureLand, the Rotterdam port information centre, where it will be sprayed and covered with the sustainable wishes of Rotterdam’s youth.