EU | UK news digest. 20 July
When for rail it is the matter of trying not to drown. Quite literally.
The recent floods that hit Belgium and Germany the hardest recently have severely impacted the rail network. The damage will need a significant amount of time and investment to repair the affected facilities. So far, the current costs are estimated between 30 and 50 mil. euros for Belgium, while in Germany the restoration expenses may reach the amount of 2 bn euros. Maersk has disabled its intermodal rail connections between Antwerp and Athus. However, there is already a plan with the potential timelines to restore rail traffic in several lines gradually but it might take up to 6 weeks to complete. Among the alternatives, a deviation via the Netherlands was possible in theory, but it does not work in practice due to the tight capacity.
A major step towards the development of Europe’s inland waterway trade has been made as The Port of Rotterdam Authority has welcomed the European Commission’s NAIADES III Action Plan. It aims at the need to shift more freight to inland waterways and facilitate the industry’s transition towards a zero-emission inland system, all within cooperation. Among other vital goals is the boost of competitive position, preservation of the market share, and the possibility to avoid a modal backshift.
As many ocean carriers, non-operating owners, and other players have gone all-in on container ship newbuildings in the first half of this year, there is now a possibility of the containership orderbook rising to 24% of the existing fleet and causing oversupply if a spate of unconfirmed orders goes to completion. Taking into account that industry giants have lately been rigorously ordering, experts assume that the container ship orderbook might easily grow by another 1m TEU.
The launch of the new Hefei-Wilhelmshaven train service has celebrated the first time of the two provinces establishing a rail connection since transport between them was mainly carried out through maritime links. It will serve as a bridgehead for the transport of goods between China and Europe.
Having recently adressed the unfortunate drivers’ shortage, the UK authorities admitted that they will not be able to achieve short-term improvements at least until 2022. The last announcements include a commitment by ministers to work with industry leaders to attract new drivers, and simplify training and encourage people to remain in the sector. Many argue that the plan lacks concrete targets and timelines to help the industry recruit more drivers.
The Brussels directive regarding environmental development sets challenging objectives for the shipping sector. It calls for 50% of the carbon emissions on a voyage to or from a port in the EU, rising to 100% for intra-EU voyages, to be offset by purchasing carbon credits on European emission trading systems. Containers will face by far the greatest impact.
Аny bauble of folly…DHL has signed a partnership agreement with cargo drone developer Dronamics to jointly develop solutions and offer same-day cargo drone deliveries. This partnership has the potential to generate €1.86 bn to Dronamics’ revenues while the company also helps DHL come off as innovative. The trend is followed by the Port of Hamburg that is hosting a traffic system pilot that will allow flights in areas with a high volume of drones to be carried out in coordination with manned air traffic.
Among the recent developments in the rail sector there is also the opening of the Kaunas Intermodal Terminal for commercial traffic as part of the Rail Baltica railway. It will allow to capitalize on the section between the Polish-Lithuanian border and start initial freight shipments even before the full Rail Baltica project is developed.
Network Rail in the UK is planning to boost the reliability of a vital freight line with essential repairs to Aire Bridge in North Yorkshire. The line exclusively serves the massive Drax power station complex, which provides more than 10% of the renewable energy to the UK national grid. The whole British program of structure and track renewals is estimated at 2.4 mil. euros).
Meanwhile, Bulgaria starts construction of the largest rail tunnel in the Balkans. Not only it will upgrade Bulgarian rail infrastructure, but also facilitate freight traffic along the Orient/ East-Mediterranean corridor, which is part of the TEN-T network that such companies as Hupac use on the way to Turkey.
