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Issue 1 2012 Express rail gains momentum


The ‘CAREX’ consortium of European air freight operators is anticipating further developments in its plans to create a pan-European rail-based express network in 2012 following a meeting of participants on 24 November. Participants reviewed the


results of two market studies commissioned by the project. The first, commissioned by the EURO CAREX federation and carried out by the Belgian ETS market research company, looked at the potential traffic that could be transferred to the rail service at the various ‘railports’ at Amsterdam, Liège, London, Lyon and Roissy. This “extremely complicated” exercise is currently being completed and


should result in the drawing up of a transport plan in, in a second phase. The other survey, carried


out by the Frost and Sullivan market


research company and


commissioned by SNCF Geodis and Eurotunnel, demonstrated that night flight traffic would be the essential basis for the Carex project. These flows are mainly made up of high value added “express” flows operating to tight deadlines. In a statement, the participants added: “The railports


involved


in the project’s first phase have done remarkable work and many of them are ready to lay the foundation stone; 2012 will be rich in events that may, with a little help


from the crisis, mould the political support essential for the realisation of the affair. All of the lights are on green at the crossroads; all we have to do now is put some fuel in the tank and press the accelerator.” In an earlier


interview with


FBJ, a spokesman from one of the participants suggested that the five-year old Carex scheme is running behind schedule but would still go ahead, and suggested a revised start-date of 2015. A site has been chosen for the main French rail hub, opposite Fedex’s main European hub at Paris Roissy airport and a plan has been drawn up for the initial tranche of services, that will probably cover the UK, Benelux and Cologne in Germany.


Spain (Barcelona) will be added in a second phase and Italy at the third stage. Development does however depend on how quickly the European high speed rail network can be expanded. Airfreight containers could be


transferred direct from incoming planes to the trains, which could offer a competitive service on distances of 3-600km. The trains themselves would probably be converted French trains a grande vitesse, capable of up to 300kmph (180mph). As well as Fedex, UPS and the


Chronopost express mail arm of the French post office are also involved in the Carex consortium, as well as Air France-KLM.


High Speed 2 not necessarily good news for freight say industry experts


The new London to Birmingham high-speed rail line, the go-ahead for which was announced on 10 January, must not be allowed to divert investment or capacity away from the freight sector, warn industry groups. While the new high-speed route would theoretically free up capacity for freight trains on the existing West Coast Main Line (WCML) south of Birmingham by diverting long-distance passenger trains,


there was a danger that most of the spare slots would be used for local passenger trains rather than freight, said the Freight Transport Association’s head of supply chain policy, Christopher Snelling. He pointed out that there could be political pressure for priority to be given to increasing the frequency of local passenger services on the WCML, rather than creating more freight train paths. “Passenger


services are always politically more appealing than freight,” he told FBJ. Snelling warned, also, that


there was a further danger that, by increasing demand for passenger services to Scotland through higher speeds and hence the number of trains, the HS2 route could also eat into capacity on the WCML north of Preston, where paths for freight are already tight. “But perhaps our most


paranoid fear is that, in order to pay for HS2, the government may cut back on other rail investment over the next ten years, including Phase 2 of the Strategic Rail Freight Network,” Snelling added. However, there was no sign that this was in fact happening. HS2, when it opens, could


also theoretically carry freight trains itself, in much the same manner as the existing high- speed route from the Channel Tunnel to London is now being used for a weekly train from Poznan carrying high-cube swapbodies. (HS2 would also presumably be built to the larger Continental loading gauge.) However, Snelling said that it is unlikely that a line from London to Birmingham would be very attractive to freight users. “While there might be possible to link HS2 to the Channel Tunnel, it would mean creating a gauge-cleared route across London, which would be very


expensive.” And it was unlikely that a route between London and Birmingham alone would be very attractive to freight users. The Rail Freight Group (RFG)


welcomed the plan to build the new line but cautioned that the development of the route must also work to support rail freight growth. It urged Government to ensure that HS2 delivered on its promises for rail freight by committing now to ensuring released paths on the West Coast Main Line are available for freight. And it also called for a large gauge connection between HS2 and HS1 so that niche high speed freight services can use the route in the future.


///NEWS


NEWS ROUNDUP SEAFREIGHT


P&O Ferries took delivery of its second new €180 million ship, Spirit of France at a handover ceremony at the STX Europe shipyard in Rauma, Finland on 24 January. She then began her delivery voyage where she arrived on 28 January. Final preparations will then be made for the new ship to take up service on the Dover – Calais route by mid February. She and sister ship Spirit of Britain which began service last year are the largest ferries ever built for the Dover Strait with a capacity of 170 trucks plus 195 cars or 1,000 cars.


Seatruck launched the third in a series of four newbuildings at FSG Flensburg Yard, Germany, on 12 January. The Seatruck Performance was named Virginia O’Reilly, wife of Eugene O’Reilly, managing director of Dublin-based O’Reilly Transport. The first of the large ro-ro newbuildings, Seatruck Progress, is now operating on Seatruck’s Liverpool-Dublin route and the second ferry in the series, Seatruck Power, will join this route in mid February. Seatruck Performance will begin operations in the Irish Sea in April. The fourth new ferry will be launched at FSG at the end of March and enter service in June. The new ro-ro vessels have a length of 142 m, breadth of 25 m and a deadweight of 5,300 tonnes.


P&O has discontinued its once-daily freight ferry service between Larne and Troon. The line said that closure had been necessitated by the need for major repair work on the Norcape ferry, one of the few vessels capable of negotiating the shallow harbour at Troon and the 32-year-old ship has been sent to Turkey for scrapping. P&O added that the traffic would be absorbed on its remaining Larne-Cairnryan route.


Yusen Logistics (UK), the logistics arm of the NYK Group, has launched a direct weekly LCL (less than container load) route from Shanghai to Southampton as part of launch programme of new services. It follows introduction of a similar service from Singapore. With de-vanning under its own management, Yusen Logistics says it can prioritise customers’ requirements and has direct control over the release of cargo at destination, allowing immediate availability of stock upon receipt at Southampton.


Maersk Line is reintroducing its CRX service between Mexico, Costa Rica to Ireland, the UK and northwest Europe, which had been merged with the Ecubex service in mid-2011. It will connect Cork, Tilbury, Rotterdam and Bremerhaven with Veracruz and Altamira in Mexico and is only direct dedicated service in the trade and will provide very fast transit times for shippers of fresh fruit from Belize, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama into North Europe – for example, 13 days from Puerto Moin in Costa Rica to Tilbury.


Valencia rail service restarts


Stobart Group has re-started its seasonal rail freight service between Valencia, Spain, and Barking, east London. Operated by Europorte Channel, Eurotunnel’s through rail subsidiary, it can carry 30 45-ft chilled containers of fruit and vegetables. The first train arrived into Barking on 25 November, monitored throughout the 50-hour journey by satellite. The service used the ‘classic’ line between Folkestone and London but bypassing the Dollands Moor yard. This eliminates an extra stop and also the need to pay a fee to DB Schenker, which runs Dollands Moor.


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