A new service recently launched by French combined road-rail transport operator FroidCombi’s has brought into sharp relief the issue of congestion at the country’s handling terminals. The company, which is jointly-owned by SNCF and two French road haulage and logistics groups, ID Logistics and STEF, specialises in the shipment of fresh and frozen produce between southern and northern France,
In addition to the operation of three, daily round-trip services (Monday to Friday) between Avignon and Dourges and Avignon and Paris/Valenton, FroidCombi earlier this month introduced a daily service between Arles, located less than 40 kilometers from Avignon, to the inland port of Lille.
The choice of Arles as the departure point of the new service was a direct result of growing volumes of traffic at the Avignon terminal which has left it completely congested, FroidCombi’s president and CEO, Rémy Crochet explained to RailFreight.com in an interview. The new service from Arles is handling a little less fruit and vegetables traffic than Avignon with loads also made up of frozen goods and industrial products, he noted.
It’s all about the terminals
At the start of this year, Crochet highlighted the necessity of efficient handling terminals if ‘combi’ transport was to thrive in France. “It really is all about terminals. One might have a mediocre train path and a mediocre standard of service but if you don’t have terminals you can’t make up trains and we absolutely have to move forward in expanding such provision.
“Without adequate terminals, we won’t achieve a modal freight traffic share for rail of 18% (compared to 9-10% currently in France), not even 15% or 13%. It’s just not possible. And today, a large number of terminals are at saturation point,” he said. France has published a “national master plan” for combined transport which identifies the need for 20 new terminals and the upgrading and extension of existing ones.
Crochet, who is also heads French combi transport trade body, the GNTC, said that after a strong recovery in traffic last year – due largely to 2023 being badly-affected by industrial action at the SNCF Group, which weighed significantly on volumes – traffic growth this year had been modest. “In the second quarter of 2025 versus the same period in 2024, traffic increased 0.9% in terms of train/kilometres, +2.2% on domestic routes and-1.5% on international routes.” Traffic has yet to return to 2022 levels, he added.