HHLA’s intermodal services experienced a “significant decrease in volumes” in the first quarter of 2024. Rail transport fell by 3,2 per cent, while container transport decreased by 5,5 per cent compared to the same period last year. The EBITDA in HHLA’s intermodal segment also dropped significantly in these three months, with a 21,7 per cent…
Category: Business
Up to a third of PKP Cargo employees to get inactive status
PKP Cargo will label up to a third of its employees as ‘inactive’ from 1 June. The affected employees will not work and will face a 40 per cent reduction in their salaries for up to a year. The Polish operator is taking this step to compensate for financial losses. PKP Cargo expects a ‘temporary…
SNCF chief to step down amid retirement deal controversy
Jean-Pierre Farandou, the current chief of the French railway holding SNCF, will step down on 13 May. However, he will maintain his position until a successor is named, which will be after the Paris Olympic Games coming this summer. Farandou has been under the spotlight over the past couple of days after France’s Finance and…
Ukrainian Railways grows exports by 48,8%
Ukrainian Railways (UZ) has exported 30,4 million tonnes of goods between January and April 2024. This is 48,8 per cent more than during the same period last year. PKP LHS, operating between Poland and Ukraine, shows a similar trend. “In 2024, one of our priorities is to increase the volume of cargo transportation, in particular…
Another Ukraine-Lithuania rail freight connection is in the works
Ukrainian Railways (UZ) and the Lithuanian railway holding LTG Group agreed to develop a new freight service between Kyiv and Klaipėda. “The first test runs of the intermodal cargo transportation route are planned for this year”, LTG added. The initiative is still in its early stages, as a Memorandum of Understanding was recently signed by…
Onrail to take over Oslo-Narvik route, gains DB Schenker as customer
Norwegian rail operator Onrail will take over the Oslo-Narvik freight route. The company will now gain DB Schenker as a customer. Other companies did not manage to propose financially attractive enough deals to the German logistics company. At the moment, the freight route from Oslo to the northern Norwegian port town of Narvik is being…
The Middle Corridor remains too expensive as an alternative China-Europe route
The Middle Corridor, a multimodal China-Europe freight route through Central Asia, has garnered international interest as a potential alternative to transporting freight through Russia. Illustratively, the EU has allocated 10 billion euros for its development. The corridor remains too expensive to become a route of preference, explains Roland Verbraak, general manager of BTTMultimodalGroup. BTT, a…
English city promotes rail freight for industrial development
Doncaster is playing its railway card in a bid to attract investment. The north of England city is leveraging its rich railway heritage as a catalyst for industrial investment. It’s a novel way to harness the collateral benefits of rail development. It may just pay off for the city, which is often overshadowed by more…
Telecoms and Brazilian agribusiness: a growing partnership
Hard on the heels of yesterday’s story about the use multi-orbit satellite terminals on farm equipment in remote farmland throughout Brazil come no fewer than three news items focusing on how telecoms is boosting agribusiness in that country….
Short-term TAC hikes put transport contracts under strain
In a bid to combat the crippling impact of skyrocketing track access charges, European rail operators are calling for urgent short-term support measures. The clarion call comes amidst a flurry of criticism following Germany’s recent hefty price hike program, among others. Apart from Germany, which will increase TACs by 16 per cent, Sweden and Portugal…