{"id":197946,"date":"2025-04-09T19:49:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T09:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=61456"},"modified":"2025-04-09T19:49:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T09:49:47","slug":"being-late-is-the-main-reason-for-reverse-modal-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=197946","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Being late is the main reason for reverse modal shift\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking at the Rail Freight Summit 2025, BASF vice president for bulk logistics Thorsten Bieker provided some insight into what shippers are looking for in rail freight. What is needed to get companies to choose rail, as opposed to the road? The main reason, he says, is punctuality.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>\u201cCargo needs to be on time\u201d, Bieker explains. \u201cThis is the main reason for the reverse modal shift.\u201d Road has better punctuality and resilience, which is attractive to shippers. If rail wants to have a chance at competing, it needs to be able to offer those same advantages.<\/p>\n

At the same time, BASF wants to keep the raised road haulage maximum weight of four tonnes for the first and last mile in combined transport, at the very minimum. That boosts efficiency and makes putting freight on the rails, at least for part of the journey, more attractive. Ideally, those four tonnes would be increased to a higher number.<\/p>\n

Money and innovation<\/h2>\n

Additionally, Bieker calls for adequate subsidies for terminals and infrastructure. Connecting shippers to the rail network would also allow for more companies to use the tracks more. To illustrate, he says that his own company, BASF, takes an interest in a second rail access in the port of Antwerp, where it has a terminal.<\/p>\n

The last thing mentioned by Bieker is innovation. The rail sector needs to keep finding ways to become more efficient. In response to a question on the quickest step that rail undertakings can take in the short term, Bieker says that they can gain a lot in reducing turnaround times. \u201cA big part of your expenses concerns equipment. If equipment makes not one round-trip, but two, you can save on a third of your costs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking at the Rail Freight Summit 2025, BASF vice president for bulk logistics Thorsten Bieker provided some insight into what shippers are looking for in\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5263,72,4186,47,15536,9967],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-197946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basf","category-business","category-modal-shift","category-rail-news","category-railfreight-summit-2025","category-reverse-modal-shift","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t