NEWS\\\ News Roundup


Logistics provider VEGA International and rail wagon operator and leasing firm VTG have developed a solution to allow normally non- craneable semitrailers to be lifted on and off trains. Tests of VEGA’s roadrailLink system have been completed in Tilburg, the Netherlands. It uses a galvanized metal carrier that can be lifted onto or off rail wagons using terminal cranes or reach stackers. The system needs neither ramps nor other fixtures and loading takes only about five to eight minutes per trailer. Moreover, thanks to a laser location system, little human support is needed compared to other handling systems. Until now, the only way of putting semitrailers onto trains has been to use either specially strengthened trailers – with some loss of payload – or expensive mechanical transfer equipment.


Road & Rail


The ultra-tight sea freight market from China to Europe prompted forwarder Geodis to go to the extraordinary length of chartering its own container vessels to move boxes from the Far East during February. The Uhl Faith, a German-


owned F900 heavy-lift ship pressed into service as a container carrier, arrived in


The first container to be moved by Maersk by rail from Japan to the UK has arrived in Felixstowe. The 40’ box on 2 March from Yokohama travelled by sea and then on the logistics operator’s AE19 service between the ports of Vostochniy and St. Petersburg. Transit shipments from Japan to Europe were one of the biggest container flows via the Trans-Siberian railway 30 years ago and the route is once again becoming a popular alternative to shipping goods via the Suez Canal, even for traditionally sea-borne routes such as Japan to the UK, says Maersk.


French Railways’ logistics arm, VIIA has gained Authorised Economic Operator Safety and Security certification for its Calais terminal. It is the group’s second terminal to be awarded this certification, after Le Boulou in southern France.


In its annual results for 2020, Eurotunnel parent company Getlink announced revenue down 24% at €816 million, a performance that group chief executive Yann Leriche described as “robust”. But in the absence of clear visibility on future government decisions concerning the public health crisis and associated travel restrictions, the Group is postponing announcement of its 2021 financial performance. Le Shuttle Freight traffic fell by 37% in January compared with January 2020, to 82,484 vehicles. The operator blamed stockpiling towards the end of last year before Brexit, new post- Brexit border requirements and compulsory Covid tests for truck drivers.


Issue 2 2021 - Freight Business Journal


Crisis-hit shippers take matters into their own hands


Hamburg on 28 February, carrying 435 forty-foot containers for customers who have found it increasingly difficult to secure space with regular carriers at a viable rate. A second sailing was


scheduled left Shanghai around 10 February. Depending on demand, Geodis plans additional sailings over the


coming weeks. While freight forwarders


involved in project cargo frequently charter their own breakbulk vessels, chartering ships to move containers exclusively was almost unheard of until now, given the frequency and regularity of liner services in normal times. However, disruption to


3


container services caused by Covid and other issues, coupled with soaring freight rates, has prompted shippers to look at alternatives. Geodis’ senior vice president


global ocean freight, Matthias Hansen, said: “We understand the current market challenges resulting from unprecedented customer


demand and the


limitations of ocean carrier capacity and sailings from China and other parts of Asia. We are working hard to find


6 >>


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