North Sea Port has adopted a rail logistics vision together with the Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail. They are putting a previous Letter of Intent into practice, launching a joint port rail team to boost rail freight for hinterland transportation.
The North Sea Port specifies that the adopted vision focuses on the Dutch section of the port, which includes the ports of Vlissingen and Terneuzen. In Belgium, the port of Ghent is also part of North Sea Port.
In the short term, says North Sea Port, the partners intend to focus on using the existing rail infrastructure as efficiently as possible. “The use of sensor data provides a better and up-to-date insight into track occupancy and usage.”
“In addition, we are jointly exploring new concepts to further stimulate cooperation and opportunities for consolidation between shippers and carriers, even in a challenging market environment.” Improving the safety at level crossings will be another priority in the coming period, North Sea Port adds.
740-metre trains
In the long term, North Sea Port and ProRail will work on “structural solutions to infrastructure issues”. These include a cross-border Ghent–Terneuzen rail project and an expansion of storage and shunting tracks in the Sloehaven in Vlissingen.
North Sea Port aims for a modal shift to rail. By 2030, it wants rail freight to take a 15% modal share, up from the current 10%. Some steps have been taken towards that end: The rail network in the Terneuzen area is now capable of handling freight trains of up to 740 metres in length. In particular, the Sas van Gent, the Terneuzen-Zuid and Axel Aansluiting marshalling yards have tracks available for 740-metre long trains.