According to the industry magazine “Infrastruktura”, intermodal transport accounts for only 1.7% of the total cargo value in Poland. Thanks to EU funds, this situation should gradually change. The company Laude.pl, through the launch of a modern Logistics Center located at the PKP LHS Zamość Bortatycze station, wants to develop this segment of transport services.
It is worth noting that intermodal transport in Europe accounts for almost 10%, while in Hungary, for example, these shipments have already reached a 7% share of the total cargo value. This is several times more than in our country.
– One only needs to look to have no doubt that there is a very large and profitable market to be developed – emphasizes Janusz Górski, Vice President of Laude.pl. – It is all the more attractive because intermodal transport offers a service that is competitive in terms of both delivery time and execution costs – he assures.
Last year, the Laude company transported over 600,000 tons of goods; alongside classic road transport, it also provides intermodal transport services based on rail and sea transport.
Intermodal transport is the transfer of goods using several different means of transport without changing the loading unit. By combining and then utilizing various transport infrastructure in supply chain planning – sea and river ports, logistics terminals, railway lines, and finally roads – a freight forwarding company acting as an intermodal operator is able to provide the customer with “door to door” and “just in time” delivery.
– With roads as congested as Poland’s, rail constitutes an excellent complement to the transport chain – explains President Górski. – We must also take into account the need to limit heavy goods vehicle traffic on Polish roads – he concludes.
It is worth noting that Measure 7.4 “Development of intermodal transport” of Priority VII of the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Programme for 2007-2013 provides for a total allocation of over 111 million euros to support the construction of logistics centers, container terminals, and the purchase of specialized equipment and wagons for intermodal transport. Completing these tasks will allow for overcoming one of the fundamental barriers to the development of alternative forms of transport, which is the suboptimal state of infrastructure and its relatively low capacity.