German rail freight operator Kombiverkehr is launching a new service between Rotterdam and Cologne-Eifeltor. The service will run three times a week and is available for nearly all types of goods, except dangerous goods of class 7.
The new route will launch on 12 March and allows for intermodal transport with P400 loading units. It will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in both directions. Trains will depart from the Rail Service Center in Rotterdam Waalhaven and take twelve hours to reach their destination at Cologne-Eifeltor. According to the company, all types of goods can be carried on the route, with the exception of class 7 dangerous goods.
Kombiverkehr stresses the interconnectivity of the route to other destinations. “This new train product shows how we are capitalising on our network advantage. Köln-Eifeltor is one of our biggest hub terminals in Germany, with many options for onward transport both nationally and internationally,” says the company’s Benelux Sales Manager.
The Cologne-Eifeltor hub is one of Kombiverkehr’s biggest, and offers options for further transport to other destinations in Germany and internationally. In Germany, freight can continue its journey to Munich, Ulm, Kornwestheim and Basel in Switzerland. Beyond Germany, the rail operator offers connections to Slovenia, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Greece. In Rotterdam, the company offers optional transfers to nearby parts of the port.
China looks set to ramp up its investment in logistics infrastructure, following premier Li Qiang announcing what analysts called an “ambitious” economic growth target.
Among the investments announced this week were plans by Dalian to pump more than $33bn into its north-eastern transport network, including growing its port infrastructure and constructing a number of new rail bridges.
The ministry of transport noted that funds had been earmarked for a total of 187 projects, with Dalian “striving” for a 12% year-on-year increase in container volumes.
It added: “[Dalian] will actively open ocean routes in the Americas, Middle East, India and Pakistan, adding five new container routes through the year, and unblock large sea and land channels to create new China-Europe routes.
“[It will] realise a 3% increase in sea-rail intermodal transport volumes and improve the port collection and capacity of the North Grain South transportation channel.”
While the largest investment announced so far since the start of Chinese New Year, the news from Dalian reflects a wider push towards growing the country’s supply chain connectivity, with Shanghai’s regional government focused on increasing Yangtze River Delta flows.
This will include starting construction of a new container terminal, called Xiaoyangshan, at the city’s port, announced in 2022 at an expected cost of $7.3bn.
Furthermore, the ministry noted: “Shanghai will continue to promote the construction of the Shanghai section of the second phase of the Shanghai-China Railway and the Shanghai section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu high-speed railway.”
Other regional rail projects include the construction of lines and launch of new services to provide better connectivity with Pudong International Airport.
In total, the country has set aside $173bn for transport projects over the coming 12 months, representing an increase of some $3.5bn on 2023’s budget, as China looks to rebound from a range of economic challenges, including deteriorating foreign direct investor confidence.
That – despite FDI accounting for 3% of total Chinese investment – seems to have been playing on the minds of the country’s leadership for months. At a Beijing supply chain conference in November, Mr Li urged the international community to rebuff what he described as a movement towards protectionism and uncontrolled globalisation – taken as a thinly veiled comment against the rise of India and Mexico.
Although forecasting 5% GDP for 2024 to some 3,000 delegates gathered in the Great of Hall of the People in Beijing, Mr Li nonetheless acknowledged it would not come easily.
He said: “The foundation for the continuous recovery and improvement of our country’s economy is still not solid, with insufficient demand, overcapacity in some industries, weak societal expectations and many lingering risks.”
And in direct response to investor concerns, the Chinese cabinet office said “all market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing will be abolished”.
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Liner operators say they are unlikely to emulate Maersk in using land transport to circumvent the Panama Canal restrictions, as moving containers by land in the Americas could drive costs up more than 30%.
In January, the Panama Canal Authority increased the number of daily transit slots to 24, despite first announcing a reduction to 18 for February. However, this is still fewer than the usual 36 daily transits through the waterway.
In response, Maersk announced its OC1 service from Oceania to North and South America would instead call at Balboa port in Panama on the Pacific side, and discharge boxes there.
In the opposite direction, vessels would discharge shipments for Australia and New Zealand at Panama’s port of Manzanillo, on the Atlantic side. These containers are sent by rail across the canal to be transhipped.
Last month’s Clarksons’ Container Intelligence Monthly stated that ONE had followed Maersk by announcing it would be using a ‘land bridge’ involving rail across Panama for some services, omitting canal transits.
However, a ONE spokesperson clarified to The Loadstar: “This is just a temporary land bridge operation for destinations of small volumes in the Caribbean Sea and South American east coast. We have conducted this operation in the past, even before the Panama congestion this time.
“This is just a similar case to past initiatives and, hence, we didn’t ‘follow in Maersk’s footsteps’.”
The spokesperson added: “Our service which hasn’t been able to pass the Panama Canal calls at Rodman port. Since there isn’t any rail service to Rodman, we’re temporarily adopting inland truck service if needed.”
A representative of ONE’s THE Alliance partner, Yang Ming, told land bridge options were not cost-effective.
“Land bridge movements account for just 10% of our US east coast services; because empty containers can only be transported back to Asia by seaborne transport, the cost of a landbridge is too high.
“Today, the freight rate from Asia to the US east coast is around $5,900 per 40ft. A normal Panama transit will take 37 days, but with the diversion round the Cape of Good Hope, you add five to six days. Using a land option will take around 30 days, but add nearly $2,000 to the cost,” he explained.
Key shipping routes in the Red Sea, Black Sea and Panama Canal are simultaneously under threat, with far-reaching implications for inflation and food & energy security.
Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to these disruptions and UNCTAD remains vigilant in monitoring the evolving situation.
The Ocean Alliance east-west liner services vessel-sharing agreement between CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen, has been extended until 31 March 2032.
The announcement ended weeks of industry chatter that one of the partners would “jump ship” to join the THE Alliance after Hapag-Lloyd leaves next year.
Ocean line CEOs signed a memorandum of understanding in Shanghai today, designed to end speculation of a new ‘alliance merry-go-round’ which followed last month’s shock announcement by Hapag-Lloyd of its resignation from THEA to team up with Maersk in the new Gemini Cooperation next February.
The carrier partners said that, “with the confirmation of at least five years’ cooperation extension”, they “would like to deliver a clear and positive signal” to their customers.
CMA CGM chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saadé added: “The decision forges our commitment to meet our customers’ needs and build even more secure, reliable and sustainable supply chains. Our diversity is our strength, together we will continue to pioneer our industry.”
Coincidentally, Drewry chose today for a webinar on post-Gemini liner alliances, which no doubt included some last-minute changes to the script to reflect the Ocean Alliance announcement.
Hosted by liner industry veterans Drewry MD Tim Power and senior associate Tony Mason, the webinar looked at the make-up of the new alliance structures, and particularly at the options for the remaining partners of THEA now the Ocean Alliance door has closed.
Drewry said that, apart from on the transatlantic, the Ocean Alliance would have by far the greatest number of east-west trade loops, with 40 across its network, followed by Gemini with 21, THEA with 19 and MSC with 15.
“MSC has the greatest reduction in the number of loops, although this is mitigated by the independent loops it has already launched outside the 2M.” it added.
And, as a result of Maersk’s departure from the 2M next year, Drewry said that in its new Gemini VSA with Hapag-Lloyd, where the German carrier is the junior partner, the number of loops marketed by Maersk would be reduced.
Mr Power discussed the merits and potential obstacles of the ‘hub & spoke’ operation central to the Gemini partners’ VSA strategy, and argued that its “robustness” would be a critical factor in the success or failure of the concept. he said: “If they don’t get it right, they will be in trouble.”
And he added: “Managing the network to ensure reliability, managing the terminals with very high port call sizes, big exchanges and a lot of pressure on yard management is going to be very challenging on a day-to-day operational basis.”
As for the options next year for the remaining THEA partners ONE, Yang Ming and HMM, Mr Mason speculated that they might be considering that persuading an Ocean Alliance carrier to join THE
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Lithuanian rail operator LTG Cargo has run its first continuous pilot train across all Baltic countries. It is the company’s first independently run cargo train traversing all three Baltic states. As Baltic rail operators have faced financial difficulties due to a loss of freight from and to Russia and Belarus, they seek to diversify their operations internationally.
The pilot run across the Baltics used a single locomotive and was run independently by LTG Cargo. According to the company, this novelty increases the route’s competitiveness and removes the need for wagon transfers at international borders.
LTG Cargo states that it will soon start organizing transports through all Baltic countries. It also aims to increase its westbound transportation volumes and provide cargo services on the Rail Baltica line, which will connect the Baltic countries to the rest of Europe via Poland.
Pan-Baltic business
Much like its Baltic counterparts LDZ Cargo and Operail, LTG Cargo pursues a policy of international expansion amid financial setbacks following sanctions on Russia and Belarus. Both Latvian LDZ Cargo and Estonian Operail earlier signaled their intention to expand internationally to make up for their losses.
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