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Issue 8 2014 - Freight Business Journal


///NEWS


Channel Tunnel DHL adds Japan to Asia rail services >> 1


Europorte, and particularly our customers, who saw the benefits and patiently waited for them to be a reality.”


Later, he told FBJ that while the service was carrying standard


45’ containers, the plan was to also offer service for tank containers and, possibly, mega-combi units, taking advantage of the High Speed 1 route’s large loading gauge. The HS1 route has to be used because the wider Continental-gauge wagons used would foul the platforms at stations on the ‘classic’ route from Folkestone to London, he explained. The partners had pressed Eurotunnel and the rail infrastructure


operators for suitable paths five days a week, in order to ensure full utilisation of the equipment. The freight trains have to operate between the last passenger services of the evening and before the first departures in the morning. They also have to fit in with overnight engineering possessions on High Speed 1, although most of these are at weekends. Connecting services – with units lifted between trains - are


available at Barking on Russell Group’s domestic rail services to Daventry and Glasgow, while on the other side of the Channel, it is possible to reach a wide range of destinations on the Novatrans network. “We’re also looking at links to Spain, Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe with other operators,” added John Russell.


Freightliner up for sale


Freightliner Group has been put up for sale by its owners Arcapita, according to recent press and newswire reports. The Bahrain- based investment fund bought the company in 2008, and it may fetch as up to £400 million pounds ($630 million), according to the Wall Street Journal.


Freightliner Group is the main


rail haulier of containers in the UK and also has operations in Europe following its purchase of European Container Services from shipping line interests a few months ago. In addition, it has bulk rail operations in


the UK and operations in Australia.


CILT proposes Wales- Ireland tunnel


The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Cymru Wales says that a tunnel between Holyhead and Ireland is a serious proposition. At around £15 billion, it would cost no more than the southern section of the proposed HS2 high speed rail line between London and Birmingham, the think tank argues in its Vision 2035: Cymru Wales


report,


published in mid-November. The project could also attract


European Commission funding to improve links with the peripheral regions, it adds. It is not the first time such


a proposal has been made; a similar scheme was suggest a few years ago, before the Great Recession hit the Irish economy hard. An Irish Sea tunnel would be


about 60 miles long, or roughly three


Tunnel between Folkestone and Calais.


times the Channel


DHL Global Forwarding has extended its multimodal rail service from China to Europe to include Japan. A combination of trucking, sea and rail offers customers in Japan access to DGF China’s rail freight solution with delivery times of between 10 and 21 days, around half the time of ocean freight and only 15% of the cost of airfreight. It also reduces CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared with air. Goods in Japan can be


picked up from anywhere in the country and then moved in 40-foot containers to Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka or Hakata ports for shipment across the East


connects China and Japan directly to any destination in Europe. Mark Slade, president


China Sea to Shanghai and onward movement by rail via Suzhou to Poland. Last mile delivery by truck or rail is available to anywhere in Europe.


The service is also available


from Europe to Japan. CEO of DHL Global


Forwarding Asia Pacific, Kelvin Leung, said the North Asian multimodal network now


and representative director for DHL Global Forwarding Japan, added: “We are seeing a big potential of this innovative service in all sectors moving goods between Japan and Europe, especially in the electronics, automobile and the fashion and apparel industries.” DHL Global Forwarding


also has an existing China- Japan Multimodal Solution via ferry rail and truck using 12-foot containers used by the Japanese railways.


Eurotunnel denounces rail freight ‘obstacles’


There are five main obstacles to the development of cross- Channel rail freight, Tunnel operator Eurotunnel told a conference in Lille, northern France on 9 October. This was despite the double digit growth in cross-Channel rail freight in the third quarter of 2014. Problems included the lack


of electrification on lines from the Channel Tunnel across Kent and the absence of a rail freight corridor between Manchester and Birmingham. Other significant barriers were


the differences in maximum train length: in Italy, trains are limited to 500m and in Germany 600m compared to 750m in France and the UK. This automatically reduces potential capacity between Italy and the UK by 25%. Another handicap was the small UK loading gauge, which makes wagons more expensive and reduces capacity, increasing transport costs by €300 per train and reducing revenues by 20%. Another problem is the widespread use of “long” (13.6m)


containers, which are less adaptable to the multi-freight wagons used across continental Europe. Eurotunnel is calling on the


governments to take measures to put more freight onto rail and help develop cross-Channel transport. At its Autumn Group meeting


on 5 November, Rail Freight Group members


said there


had been a welcome upturn in traffic levels, supported by Eurotunnel’s decision to reduce tolls, overall economic recovery and for many services, the superior loading gauge on HS1. But they confirmed that a number of hurdles to growth still exist and need to be progressed by the industry. These include introduction


of new innovative services, such as piggyback, to open up new markets, physical network restrictions in the UK and elsewhere, terminal capacity, particularly to meet growing needs at Barking and measures to improve efficiency and increase


train loading and capacity. At the same time, the new


sulphur shipping directive which is


likely to increase costs for


cross channel ferries and create potential for rail operators. RFG executive director, Maggie Simpson,


said: “The


cross-Channel market is showing early signs of recovering aſter a decade of under-performance. We now need to work together as an industry to address the remaining


barriers to trade


and help rail freight to meet its true potential.” She welcomed the start of the new John G Russell service and the fact that domestic UK rail operator now had the confidence to move into the cross-Channel market. She told FBJ:


“Eurotunnel’s


tolls are down and I think the use of the High Speed 1 route is helping, not only because it has a superior loading-gauge but also because it makes people look at the market in a new way.” She conceded that there


was still work to be done on improving gauge clearance


on the ‘classic’ UK network though. Currently, the system is a “hotch-potch” of different gauges. But she pointed out that relatively minor clearance work could significantly enhance the size of loads that could be carried, without necessarily going as far as clearing routes for Continental-gauge wagons. She also welcomed


preliminary work by Network Rail on possible enhancements of the Barking terminal being used by John G Russell’s domestic and new international trains. Capacity could be considerably enhanced on the site’s existing footprint, including more siding space for Continental gauge wagons. Cross-Channel rail freight


still has some way to go before it reaches even the levels of a few years ago, before the first illegal immigrants crisis and competition from short-sea shipping drastically reduced business. “It may not exactly be a boom, but the trend is definitely upwards,” she said.


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