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Issue 2 2021 - Freight Business Journal


Cargo-partner gains UK foothold with Aztek stake


Austrian-based forwarder Cargo- partner has opened a new UK office in Manchester aſter taking a one-third stake in logistics firm Aztek International. Cargo- partner will offer services including air, sea, road, rail transport and customs services in the UK. Together with Aztek’s other


offices in East London and Bradford, it gives the Austrian carrier full coverage of the UK. In addition to European


transport, Cargo-partner UK and Aztek International will establish strong trading relationships across both their agent networks, with an initial focus on Asia and North and South America. Since opening the UK office,


the local Cargo-partner team has handled several emergency shipments, including a full charter flight of car tyres from Thailand and other urgent airfreight shipments for automotive customers. Other


Woodland opens first Continental base


UK forwarder Woodland Group has opened its first warehouse in mainland Europe, a 34,649sq ft eCommerce facility in Rotterdam, Netherlands, under the name Redwood Fulfilment. It will offer clients a direct


route to market in mainland Europe for Woodland Group’s B2B and B2C clients, three of which are already using the


facility. It is located in the Waalhaven


District of the port of Rotterdam, directly connected to the rail network and on the main route between port and connected industrial areas. It has storage space for over 6,000 pallets. Redwood Fulfilment


operations are headed by Johan Smink and Erwin


key industries the company plans to focus on include industrial, aerospace, healthcare, retail and consumer products. Cargo-partner chief executive Stefan Krauter, explains:


“This


investment in cooperation with our long-time partner Aztek is our first strategic step towards establishing cargo-partner in the UK. “Our new office in Manchester


is a game-changing addition to our European network and provides a significant added benefit for our customers. With our strong set-up in Central and Eastern Europe, we can ensure smooth and efficient processes for imports and exports to and from the UK. At the moment, we


are handling a lot of road freight from the EU to the UK as well as from Northern Ireland to the UK and vice versa.” Cargo-partner has also


acquired Dutch logistics company Transcargo, its first complete acquisition in its history, following a year’s collaboration at the latter’s warehouse in Roermond. It will now begin the gradual integration of Transcargo into the group as part of its expansion strategy in Western Europe. The logistics centre offers


17,000sq m of storage space and is connected by two weekly departures to the Cargo-partner hub near Vienna Airport.


Cargo-partner in Turkey


In our Turkey report in the last issue (p18) we referred to Cargo-partner as a German-based company. It is


Regtvoort, bringing more than 30 years’ experience in warehousing and distribution between them. Woodland Group has


also opened a fulfilment and distribution facility in Doncaster, and has increased its teams in the Yorkshire region by 35%. The 195,000sq ft facility is


part of the iPort multimodal logistics hub being developed by Verdion which includes a rail terminal with services from Southampton, Felixstowe,


DHL and Volvo to run first long haul heavy electric trucks


DHL Freight has partnered with Volvo Trucks to run the world’s first tests of a fully electric heavy goods vehicle over long distances. The converted Volvo FH has a gross weight of up to 60 tonnes and, from March, will operate between two DHL Freight terminals in Gothenburg and Jönköping in Sweden, a distance of 150km. The project is part of the REEL


initiative by Sweden’s innovation agency Vinnova to promote electrified freight transport. Volvo already offers city electric


trucks in its range and DHL Supply Chain recently put a new Volvo FL Electric into operation in London – the first of its kind in the UK.


in fact headquartered in Austria. Apologies for any confusion caused.


London Gateway and Teesport. Woodland says its


investment reflects interest in solutions away from deep- water ports in the southeast of England and an increasing focus on the East Coast ports of Hull, Immingham, Grimsby, Goole and Teesport. It already has a presence in Hull, Dewsbury, Barnsley, Rotherham and Goole, servicing customers in print, packaging, construction materials, FMCG, paper suppliers and engineering.


Multimodal to take place in October


The Multimodal freight conference and exhibition has been postponed again – to 19-21 October. The event at Birmingham NEC


was originally planned for June 2020 but has been repeatedly put back, due to the Covid-129 crisis. However, it says that it is now


committed to the new dates for the free-to-attend networking and learning show at the Birmingham NEC. The annual Multimodal


Awards evening will take place at the VOX Birmingham, UK on 19 October, hosted by football legend Kevin Keegan.


News Roundup


DFDS will introduce a fourth freight ferry to its service between Rosslare and Dunkerque in Northern France. The Ark Dania has a capacity of 188 trucks including 12 driver accompanied units and 176 unaccompanied. It will also free up capacity on the three other ferries for more driver accompanied traffic. The direct route between Rosslare and Dunkirk was launched on 2 January with three ferries to offer an alternative for trade between Ireland and continental Europe.


PD Ports has gone into partnership with the Port of Rotterdam to deliver digitalised solutions on the River Tees. The UK operator is developing a Port Community System Working in collaboration with the Dutch gateway as part of its plans to become a ‘smarter port’; reducing reliance on personal interaction and paper-based transactions.


DP World London Gateway has added two new liner services. It has replaced Felixstowe as the UK call for Maersk’s service which calls at East Mediterranean including Limassol, Ashdod, Alexandria, Haifa, Mersin, and Port Said East. In January, it became the UK port of call for DP World’s shortsea arm Unifeeder’s new St Petersburg service aſter the short-sea operator introduced an additional loop connecting the Benelux and Russian markets with Britain. The service also offers a weekly link from Gdynia, Poland to London Gateway.


Hapag-Lloyd has opened an office in Mombasa, Kenya, headed by country manager Prashant Sindhwani. The line operates a China Kenya Express Service to major ports in Asia, such as Singapore and Shanghai and the East Africa Service to the west coast of India and Jebel Ali in Dubai. It also serves landlocked East African countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan with regular inland connections to and from Mombasa and is developing similar links to Somalia, Southern Ethiopia and Northern Tanzania. Hapag-Lloyd is also planning an office in the capital, Nairobi.


Poul Hestbaek is to take over as chief executive of Hamburg Süd from Dr Arnt Vespermann. Hestbaek has been with Hamburg Süd since 2004 and is currently the chief commercial officer of the now AP Moller-Maersk-owned company.


“Shore-power” – powering vessels in port by green electricity in place of on-board diesel generators – is essential to reduce pollution but is held back in the UK by high taxes and a lack of Government support, says a new report by Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research for the British Ports Association. BPA says that governments in France, Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden are helping their ports deploy shore-power, with grants for investment and reductions in electricity taxes, but the UK is not. The imminent Transport Decarbonisation Plan is a big opportunity for the UK Government to rectify this, it says.


Shoreham Port and partner H2evolution have started work on a hydrogen hub. A planning application will shortly be developed to establish a 20- megawatt electrolysis plant to the south of the port’s lock gates to produce the green fuel, which should start to become available from 2024. Demand for hydrogen is expected to grow rapidly in the next five to ten years for homes, transport and industry.


Southampton rail upgrade complete


Network Rail has completed a £17 million scheme to allow longer trains to operate to and from the port of Southampton. Engineers have finished a series of improvements on the lines used by freight between


Southampton Central and Redbridge,


allowing them to


carry up to 20% more freight. Length can be increased from 520 to 775 metres, or 14 extra containers per train. Network Rail’s director of


freight, Charlene Wallace, said the project would be a major boost for the Port of


Southampton’s three rail


freight operators DB Cargo, GB Railfreight and Freightliner. Freightliner averages up to 24


container trains per day in and out of their Maritime Terminal in Redbridge, while DB Cargo and GB Railfreight average up to 18 trains per day. GB Railfreight moves intermodal containers, vehicles and gypsum.


///NEWS Sea


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