Recently, Ekol Logistics announced the opening of a new rail connection linking Budapest with Cologne, which was the first such solution offered by the company in the east-west corridor, and now a new one has been launched, connecting Zeebrugge in Belgium with Trieste in Italy. The connection is part of Ekol’s network development plan in the north-south direction.
– We are consistently implementing our strategy of expanding intermodal connections in Europe. In January 2017, we “brought” the Mediterranean closer to the Baltic thanks to the Trieste-Kiel line, and now our customers will certainly be pleased with the opening of a connection between the Mediterranean and the North Sea. This is the first direct train that connects Turkey, Iran, and the Middle East with the Benelux countries, France, and the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland) in a completely ecological way without the need to involve even a single driver – says Alaa Jennane, Engineering Business Development Director at Ekol.
The train will depart from the EMT Terminal in Trieste twice a week. This new solution will enable the transport of various transport units, such as Mega trailers, containers, and swap bodies.
– Thanks to the cooperation with the port of Zeebrugge and our strategic partner P&O Ferries, we will transport shipments by P&O Ferries to various key regions of England (Tilbury, Hull, Teesport). To other locations, this will be possible using our other partners. We are very proud of this solution – says Alaa Jennane.
The connection will be operated by Hupac; for Ekol, the transport of 5,000 shipments per year is planned.
– At Hupac, we are very pleased with the cooperation with Ekol. Together with all the partners involved, we have managed to build a modern service connecting Turkey with the UK, which will offer transport in competitive transit times. Hupac uses its own fleet of modern wagons and manages daily rail operations. This new service shows that multimodal transport can be an excellent alternative to road transport – said Renzo Capanni, Director at Hupac.
– We are very pleased with the launch of the new freight connection to Zeebrugge, which will further strengthen our integrated rail and ferry services offered across Europe. Last year, we expanded the scope of our operations in Zeebrugge and we can currently handle 700,000 transport units per year and still have the capacity for growth – said Janette Bell, Director at P&O Ferries.
Thanks to the new train, Ekol will save 15,000 trees per month and an amount of fuel that would be enough to circle the globe 9 times. A key element of Ekol’s strategy is to offer services that are environmentally friendly. Last year, Ekol acquired shares in the EMT port in Trieste and announced plans to implement more intermodal connections from this location. The new train is therefore part of the development strategy for this port.