Orion plans Midlands-Scotland high speed freight train


10


Rail Operations UK’s Orion logistics arm is planning to launch a trial high speed train service from the West Midlands to Central Scotland in late April or May. Orion


managing director Paul


Orchard said that commercial services are expected to start in July. Orion


had originally announced that it would


All aboard MSC’s Orient Express


MSC’s European logistics arm Medlog is offering a rail and sea link between Turkey and the UK. It uses a train service from Omerli in Istanbul’s industrial


zone to Tekirdağ, about 100 miles west of the


city on the Sea of Marmara, with an eight-day sea leg thereafter


to Felixstowe, 13


days to London Gateway or 12 days to Liverpool. Three trains a day operate from Monday to Saturday.


launch a trial freight service from London Gateway to London Liverpool Street station in April or May this year,


using Class 769 bi- mode electric/diesel rolling


DIRFT set to became rail parcels hub


Royal Mail and Prologis UK are building a new parcels hub at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) that could handle trains operating through the Channel Tunnel. Once built, the 840,000sq ſt Midlands site will become Royal Mail’s largest parcel hub with a capacity of over a million parcels per day. DIRFT says that post-Brexit


processes allow trains that come from France through the Channel Tunnel to clear customs at an inland UK terminal, so rail freight services are set to become even more important in 2021. It adds that there has been


a sharp rise in demand for rail freight services during the Covid pandemic, also driven by factors such as road congestion and the truck driver shortage.


Issue 2 2021 - Freight Business Journal


///NEWS


News Roundup Forwarding & Logistics


stock converted from former passenger carriages converted to carry light goods and parcels. The trains would run at speeds of up to 100mph. It is understood that the


London Gateway – Liverpool Street trial service may still take place later in the year.


Freight Soſtware Group has appointed Richard Litchfield as managing director of its Forward Computers business. He was previously group IT director at Europa Worldwide Group and vice president and global head of IS road logistics at Kuehne & Nagel in Switzerland. He was responsible for designing and implementing Europa’s Leonardo bespoke IT system. Aſter leaving Europa, Litchfield launched a new IT consultancy business, Innovate Freight at the end of 2020 which will continue under separate management.


Chinese logistics company SF Holding is to take a 51.5% stake in Hong Kong-based forwarder Kerry Logistics Network, subject to conditions. At the same time, Kerry’s warehouse assets in Hong Kong will be disposed of to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kerry Holdings Limited. Kerry’s business in Taiwan, including the interest in Kerry TJ Logistics Company will also be sold to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kerry Holdings. The proceeds of this sale will be retained by the company for its ongoing growth and development. Kerry Logistics Network will become SF Holding’s platform for international business and the two companies will also collaborate in Greater China. However, SF Holding and Kerry Logistics Network will coexist as separate entities in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.


Kuehne+Nagel is to acquire Asian forwarder Apex International. The company was founded in China in 2001 and is especially active in the transpacific and intra-Asian markets. It has about 1,600 employees and a yearly turnover of over CHF 2.1 billion (£1.6m). In 2020, the company handled 750,000 tons of airfreight and 190,000teu of sea freight. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including merger clearance by the competition authorities. Kuehne+Nagel has also signed a strategic partnership with Jointown, China’s largest non-state-owned pharmaceutical distribution company.


The UK government announced on 3 March that it would extend the grace periods for SPS checks on agri-food goods and for parcels between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, originally set to expire aſter 31 March – but sparked immediate controversy by doing so.


European Commission vice


president Maroš Šefčovič said the action violated the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed as part of


the Brexit deal. This was echoed by Irish foreign


minister Simon Coveney who said that the UK’s unilateral move could upset delicate ongoing negotiations on the future shape of Irish Sea trade and that the EU could take legal action over an alleged breach of international law. The UK government’s action


move was however welcomed by Logistics UK’s policy manager for Northern Ireland, Seamus Leheny,


who said that it had listened to the advice it shared with Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove and Šefčovič at a recent roundtable meeting. The decision would give time to plan and deliver a permanent scheme that will reduce friction on SPS goods, such as a Trusted Trader Scheme, he said. Earlier, Northern Ireland’s


agriculture minister Gordon Lyon ordered officials to stop work on new permanent border control posts (BCPs) for food and agricultural goods and to halt staff recruitment. Lyons said says he was responding to “practical


difficulties” caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol. Existing temporary BCPs will


continue to operate. Earlier in the year, it was


reported that border post staff at Larne and Belfast had been withdrawn from the two ports following threats made against them. Work was suspended aſter graffiti appeared on walls opposing the Northern Ireland Protocol and suggesting that border


control staff could be


targeted. Staff reported suspicious activity including attempts to gather information such as vehicle number plates.


DFDS increases Cuxhaven-Immingham sailings


DFDS has expanded its ro ro freight service between Cuxhaven and Immingham with an additional departure, bringing the weekly total to six. With its unaccompanied trailer traffic, the route through Cuxhaven has shown itself to be robust despite the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, says the Cuxhaven Port Association.


With the additional Wednesday


departure, the route will be served from Monday to Saturday, using the Selandia Seaways and Britannia Seaways. Transit times between


Cuxhaven and Immingham have also been reduced to 19 hours and all departures are now in the evenings.


Rhenus Air & Ocean is consolidating its position in Germany with the planned takeover of the freight forwarding business of the logistics company, BLG International Forwarding which has made a strategic decision to focus on its contract, automobile and container divisions. Rhenus is making its global network available to the BLG Group and will acquire nine air and sea freight sites on 1 April, subject to approval by competition authorities, which will be integrated Rhenus Air & Ocean’s 12 existing sites in Germany. The BLG freight forwarding site in Bremen is excluded from the takeover.


Berkshire-based supply chain and order fulfilment specialist, Walker Logistics has signed a partnership agreement with Dutch third party logistics services provider, RIF Europe. The deal will allow Walker clients to hold stock and fulfil orders bound for mainland Europe from RIF’s multi-user distribution hubs close to Schiphol Airport. Walker has integrated its order processing systems with RIF’s.


Glasgow-based international logistics company Bullet Express has acquired a new, 30,000sq ſt storage facility 300 yards from the M74 motorway, adding a further 5,000 pallets to its capacity to 26,000 pallets. It follows a surge in demand from both existing and new customers for storage including a 40% rise in online shopping as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns.


Geodis has finalised its acquisition of Polish-based Pekaes aſter obtaining regulatory approval. Integration of the business will be led by Geodis’ road transport line of business, already established in Poland and will allow it to develop its palletised freight network throughout Europe. Geodis now has nearly 1,500 employees at 29 sites in Poland.


Gefco has opened a new 10,000sq m warehouse in the in the Tanger Med Logistics Zone in Morocco. It will offer services such as Strait of Gibraltar crossings and customs clearance, 20 security cameras, a fire-fighting system and two security ramps. In August 2018, Gefco acquired Europe-Morocco transport operator GLT.


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