Rail – Alliances can show the way

Forwarder Danzas has faith in rail freight, but believes liberalisation and partnerships are the way forward, reports Paloma Khan The argument in favour of intermodal transport is an old and much mooted one. Everybody accepts that Europe needs to get more cargo on to its railways, if only to beat congestion on the motorways, while road transport is still necessary for the to-door leg of a consignment's journey. The solution to this is clear:
combined transport.

Switzerland-based forwarder Danzas, the world's largest air freight forwarder since its merger with AEI two years ago, believes that intermodalism holds the key to future international European forwarding operations. Remo Brunschwiler, executive VP of Danzas Eurocargo, says: "You only have to look at the closures of the Mont Blanc and St Gotthard tunnels last year. Even though they have reopened, these accidents have shown us the limits of the road infrastructure." Forwarders need a competitive advantage, he adds, which is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain if you are relying solely on Europe's roads.

"Intermodal transport volumes carried internationally grows 20% annually and we find ourselves using rail more and more, " he says. "Today, intermodal represents 5%10% of our total international carriage, but this will increase substantially. In order to achieve this growth we need to see a greater investment in the necessary terminal infrastructure." The other, and perhaps more significant, problem which needs to be faced is that "passenger services take priority over cargo, resulting in quality problems – for example, affecting the ontime delivery of services".

Decades of priority for passenger services has meant that improvements to European rail freight have largely been neglected, says Brunschwiler. He sees three major barriers: international technical standards differ between countries;

locomotives need to be changed at borders; and so do drivers.

He does concede that "policy makers seem to have rail higher on their agendas", but still feels rail companies must shoulder some of the responsibility and should "get their act together".

Brunschwiler says: "In its white paper on transport, published last year, and most recently in the new package of measures to revitalise the railways, the EC is building a sustainable base for a quick re-set and implementation of rail liberalisation." An example of a current bottleneck is the connection between southern Germany and Italy, via Switzerland. "It works well down to Milan, but after that it is not really functioning, simply because the infrastructure beyond Milan is not good enough, " says Brunschwiler.

The merger of Swiss (SBB Cargo) and Italian (FS Cargo) railways' cargo divisions fell apart last year after SBB discovered its prospective partner was making heavy losses and had unresolved industrial relations issues.

Despite not officially merging, the two networks operate in an alliance on certain international routes, but attempts to smooth out difficulties in the infrastructure south of Milan have been unsuccessful, says Brunschwiler.

The north/south axis from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany down to Italy has traditionally been the most significant for Danzas's intermodal volumes, largely carried via Swiss operator Hupac. The forwarder operates using combined terminals such as Cologne, Mannheim, Basel, Milan (Busto Arsizio) and, most recently, in conjunction with Hupac, at Malmö, in southern Sweden.

"We need to extend our intermodal system across Europe. Our east/west traffic is relatively under-developed, but central and eastern Europe will become more important, " believes Brunschwiler.

In recent years, Danzas has begun developing its German domestic services in co-operation with DB Cargo.

Parcel InterCity connects Hamburg with southern Germany with an overnight train which reaches speeds of up 140kph. A second train runs from Cologne to Berlin.

Danzas feels well represented across Europe in rail terms, but one market it would like to add to its list is France. SNCF is well placed to expand internationally, says Brunschwiler, but its emphasis on passenger services has seen it neglect cargo.

He also believes SNCF's non-partnership policy will continue to stand in the way of its potential as a major force in rail freight. "If we want an efficient transport system in Europe, we need to develop partnerships. DB Cargo has shown this." Conventional rail cargo or bulk loads account for 4% of Danzas Eurocargo's total revenues, a sector which is understandably dominated by the railways, according to Brunschwiler.

Danzas claims to be one of Europe's three largest players, with Kuehne & Nagel and Schenker.

Brunschwiler believes forwarders like Danzas are better placed than the rail operators to plan intermodal loads because of the experience they have in coping with the complications involved, combined with the size of their networks.

"On a combined load crossing a border, you will have one driver to drive the truck to the departure terminal and another to pick up the cargo at the arrival terminal. It can be complex, and we are good at organising this." n

Posted: 10/06/2002

for Co-Act Project