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Current, Services, Press Release
Kombiverkehr shareholders' meeting: European market leader stabilises volumes at high level with over 950,000 truck consignments
06/19/2018
  • National transport up, but limited international growth in 2017
  • Record results in Scandinavian transport
  • Company generates annual turnover of 447.5 million euros
  • Kombiverkehr welcomes the targets associated with the amendment of CT Directive 92/106 but is critical of some aspects of its planned implementation
  • KV 4.0 digitalisation project moves forward

(Frankfurt/Main, 19 June 2018) Kombiverkehr KG, the European market leader in intermodal transport, ended the 2017 financial year with a total of 958,299 truck consignments (one consignment corresponds to the capacity of a truck), or 1.92 million TEU, which were shifted from the roads and sea routes onto the railways, thus stabilising the volume of consignments at a high level. Although 2.8 per cent fewer containers, swap bodies and semitrailers were transported in the network compared with the previous year, the demand for intermodal transport services nevertheless continues unabated. This is shown primarily by developments in the individual market segments of national transport. The company increased the number of truck consignments transported within Germany in the de.NETdirekt+ network by 4,662 to a total of 207,589, which equates to a rise of 2.3 per cent. The trend in the 2017 financial year was even more positive, with above-average growth for the fourth time in succession in traffic between federal territory and the German Baltic Sea ports of Kiel, Lübeck and Rostock with onward transport by ferry to and from Scandinavia and the Baltic States. This transport segment grew by 2,536 truck consignments, or 3.3 per cent, to 78,991 truck consignments. The volume of consignments in international transport (without the Baltic) fell to 671,719 truck consignments (-4.9 per cent) as a result of various factors. The company's 132 employees achieved sales of 447.5 million euros (-0.6 per cent).

Rheintal closure, operational situation on Brenner services and general quality of performance on the railways affected growth in international consignments
The effects of the Rheintal closure near Rastatt during the period from mid-August to early October 2017 had a particularly negative impact on the result in bilateral transport with Switzerland and in Germany – Italy via Switzerland transport. The company recorded considerable losses in consignment volumes for well over seven weeks due to the disruption on this line and the absence of, or restrictions on, alternative routes. This more or less coincided with a worsening of the operational situation on the parallel route Germany – Italy via Brenner. Accidents, infrastructure engineering works and the increasingly frequent and lengthy train controls in Raubling and Rosenheim due to the refugee situation meant that more trains than ever failed to run on schedule in the second half of the year. It became virtually impossible during this period to plan and provide a normal range of services in the road-rail Combined Transport sector. External factors had a really huge impact on the improvement of train services to and from Italy, the most important market for Kombiverkehr with the highest volumes. At the start of the year, it was no longer possible to provide new trains and capacity increases due to the overall operational situation, which ultimately led to increasingly serious resource problems for the rail freight transport companies and terminals. Kombiverkehr eventually managed to increase the volume of traffic in the Italy via Brenner market segment in spite of these circumstances. Opportunities for growth on international routes were nevertheless limited on the whole, even though there was still a strong demand among freight forwarders for environmentally friendly intermodal services.

The company also felt the effects on its range of services in other European corridors, where consignment volumes fell in some areas due to the far from satisfactory levels of service provided by various rail freight companies. Environmental factors such as the Egon, Xavier and Herwart low-pressure systems, which only raged through Germany for a few days but upset the train schedules for nearly a week and caused trains to be cancelled, also contributed to the overall balance of consignments in 2017.

Greater transport distance, less carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide
Forwarding customers at home and abroad are having their intermodal consignments transported over increasingly long distances by Kombiverkehr. The average transport distance rose yet again over the past financial year, this time to a total of 836 kilometres, a 2.1 per cent increase on the previous year. As a result, the company's transport output was up by 0.6 per cent to 19.1 billion tonne-kilometres. The volume of freight carried on the 170 direct and shuttle trains which operate daily in the Kombiverkehr network amounted to 22.8 million gross tonnes. By opting for intermodal transport, the customers of Kombiverkehr prevented the emission of some 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and around 3,400 tonnes of nitrogen oxide, thus contributing to climate-friendly logistics.

Another positive result in national transport
After a moderate rise in 2016, national Combined Transport increased forwarding volumes in the 2017 financial year by a total of 4,662 consignments, or 2.3 per cent, to 207,589 consignments, or around 415,000 TEU, compared with the previous year. This significant growth in domestic transport was achieved in spite of a series of negative factors. As well as the still unsatisfactory performance of the railways, particular mention must be made here of the seven-week closure of the Rhine Valley section of track between Rastatt and Baden-Baden. As a result, all the Wuppertal/Cologne – Basel and Hamburg – Basel trains had to be temporarily suspended, which caused a proportional decline in the volume of traffic on the affected routes.

"We also managed to expand the national train services once again during the past financial year, regardless of the generally difficult conditions. The frequency of departures on the Duisburg – Ludwigshafen route had been doubled from five to ten a week in each direction by the beginning of May. Similarly, the number of departures on the service between Leipzig and Munich was finally doubled from three to six in September," said managing director Robert Breuhahn, highlighting further options for customers in the forwarding and logistics industry to transport their freight on national routes. With over 200,000 consignments transported in the German rail network, national Combined Transport remains a vital cornerstone in the network of the Frankfurt-based operator.

Record result in northern European transport
Germany’s three Baltic Sea ports of Kiel, Lübeck und Rostock form the central hub of Kombiverkehr’s services between Germany and the northern European and Baltic states, with numerous ferry routes and a series of connecting ports along the Baltic coast. The Germany-northern Europe corridor has been given additional impetus for growth in recent years by the transport services via the fixed link. Kombiverkehr ended the 2017 financial year with a record result in northern European transport. With 137,473 consignments, more units than ever before were transported on this axis during the past financial year. Forwarding volumes rose by 4.4 per cent to 274,900 TEU. Northern European transport was thus able to consolidate its position as the second-strongest international business area.

The company generated the increased volume of transport from traffic via Baltic Sea ports and the fixed link. In 2017 the existing services to and from Sweden were expanded by introducing additional shuttle trains between Coevorden in the Netherlands, Bad Bentheim, Cologne and Herne in Germany, and Malmö in Sweden to cater for market demand. Kombiverkehr also boosted the provision of Baltic Sea transport services, in particular to and from the port of Lübeck. A significant increase in the number of departures on the line to and from Duisburg-Ruhrort Hafen from six to 11 a week in each direction meant that capacity was nearly doubled on this route.

Differing trends in transalpine transport
Despite a 4.9 per cent fall in volumes, south European transport remains Kombiverkehr's most important transport axis with a total of 394,981 consignments (790,000 TEU). Transport flows to and from Italy are spread across the four main alpine crossings of the Brenner Pass and Tauern in Austria and Gotthard and Lötschberg in Switzerland. With 229,105 transported consignments, Brenner was again by far the most important corridor for Kombiverkehr during the last financial year, followed by the Swiss corridors with 116,684 consignments and the Tauern line with 35,687 consignments.

"Sectoral driving bans, convoy controls, Brenner tolls, route closure at Rastatt and a driver shortage are just a few of the buzzwords that should have been conducive to booming business in Combined Transport via Brenner," commented Breuhahn on the operating result in Brenner transport during the shareholders' meeting. "It's true that the volume of traffic on the Brenner axis increased during the last financial year for the third time in succession, but an increase of just 1.5 per cent is comparatively modest." There was initially a noticeable increase during the last financial year in the demand for capacity in Combined Transport via Brenner, which was driven by the generally favourable conditions. As a result, 12 more trains were brought in on four routes to boost the existing number of weekly departures between Germany and Italy. The routes in question were Cologne – Verona (from 11 round trips to 12), Munich – Verona (from five round trips to six), Bremen – Verona (from six round trips to eight) and Ludwigshafen – Verona (from six round trips to eight). The refugee controls carried out in Rosenheim were hugely detrimental to the handling of train operations, particularly in the second half of the year, and resulted in what were at times chaotic conditions within the intermodal supply chains. Line closures for the controls and the ensuing delays ended up causing many round trips to be cancelled on Brenner services during this period.

Unaccompanied Combined Transport between Germany and Italy via Switzerland was substantially affected by the serious incident near Rastatt. As a consequence, Kombiverkehr was forced to accept a 6.4 per cent drop in shipments to and from Italy via Switzerland to a total of 116,684 consignments in the 2017 financial year.

Spanish transport increases by seven per cent
It was possible to keep the volume of unaccompanied Combined Transport between Germany and the countries of west and southwest Europe more or less constant during the last financial year. The amount of freight transported on the corridors between Germany and France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands only fell slightly by 0.6 per cent to 126,350 consignments or around 253,000 TEU.

Shipments between Germany and the Iberian peninsula accounted for a significant share of consignment volumes. The volume of transport with Spain and Portugal rose by 7.7 per cent to 52,961 consignments (105,900 TEU). This allowed Kombiverkehr to more than compensate for the slight drop in consignments from the year 2016, which had been caused by the tragic accident at the BASF plant in Ludwigshafen and the ensuing two-week closure of the terminal.

Eastern and southeastern Europe: Turkish transport via Trieste still in the ascendant
A total of 91,906 consignments (184,000 TEU) were forwarded in unaccompanied transport services between Germany and central and eastern Europe during the last financial year. Volumes on the bilateral block trains, which average 72 a week, decreased by 15.3 per cent. General conditions are very tough but double-digit rates of growth were nevertheless achieved on some routes. The volume of traffic with Turkey (+28.6 per cent) and between Germany and Slovenia (+12.1 per cent) bucked the general trend.

After adjusting the production concept, the operator was also able to chalk up a volume increase of 3.1 per cent on the services between Germany and Poland. The encouraging growth in volumes is also attributable to closer cooperation between Kombiverkehr and its partner Hupac. As a result, forwarding volumes for Poland rose for the third time in succession. The basis of this success is a joint train product which has been running three times a week in each direction between the Duisburg DUSS terminal and Pruszkow since January 2017, stopping off in Gadki. There are also options for onward transport from Duisburg and Pruszkow to make use of the two operators' existing national and international services.

The volume of transport between Germany and Turkey rose for the fourth time in succession and set a new record in 2017 with 7,127 consignments. Kombiverkehr currently offers a wide range of connections to and from the European and Asian parts of Turkey via the ferry port in Trieste. As well as the Turkish ports of Ambarli, Yalova, Pendik, Mersin and Cesme, it is also possible to reach the port terminal in Alsancak near Izmir. Due to increased demand for services to Turkey, a new block train was introduced between Munich and Trieste in June 2017 with two weekly departures in each direction. The frequency of services was increased from three to four departures a week in each direction on the route between Ludwigshafen and Trieste in October 2017.

Kombiverkehr welcomes the targets associated with the amendment of CT Directive 92/106 but is critical of some aspects of its planned implementation
The purpose of the European Union's newly revised version of the CT Directive 92/106 is to make Combined Transport better able to compete with long-distance road haulage and thus drive forward the process of shifting freight from the roads to other modes of transport. The aim is an overall reduction in the adverse external effects of the road haulage sector. Among other things, the Member States should offer incentives to encourage operators to shift freight from the roads to Combined Transport in the form of rail and waterway. Kombiverkehr responded to the first draft by the EU Commission in May 2018. Managing director Armin Riedl also commented on the current status of the amendment to CT Directive 92/106 during the shareholders' meeting. "I have no wish to go into the details of the draft today, but I find one thing quite remarkable. This directive is supposed to support and promote Combined Transport in Europe, yet the debate sometimes gives the impression that it is a matter of imposing even more regulations on Combined Transport, as if this were not already the case. The first and final leg by road should be regulated in line with market requirements." Riedl is referring here in particular to the plan to stick to a limit on mileage for the first and final leg between the place where the container is accepted and the appropriate terminal. In his opinion, the directive should apply equally in all EU Member States and should of course cover all types of intermodal container: swap bodies, containers and the increasingly popular semitrailer.

Digital supply chain in intermodal transport driven forward
During the past financial year an important scheme for the modernisation and future viability of the intermodal sector within the logistics industry was launched in the form of the "Digitalisation of intermodal supply chains – KV 4.0" project. Kombiverkehr began working on the project in September 2017 along with its network partners DB Cargo, Lokomotion, SBB Cargo Deutschland, KTL Ludwigshafen, Hupac Transport, HOYER, Paneuropa Transport, Hupac Intermodal, Bertschi and Hupac SpA. The primary goal of "KV 4.0" consists in making the logistical process more transparent and manageable along the entire intermodal transport chain, starting with the collection of the transport unit from the shipper to its delivery to the recipient. The project is divided into nine specialist work packages and progress has already been recorded and explained in detail in a milestone report. Examples of the work packages include "Timetable data CT operators", "Order information forwarders", "Status reports terminal" and "Train movements/resource planning EVU (rail transport companies)". In addition, the project group is currently dealing with the identification of key reporting points for TARGET, ACTUAL and temporal forecasts ("ETA/supply") along the intermodal transport chain. The conceptual design of the system architecture for the IT hub is being done in parallel. The project partners had to complete the initial performance specifications by May 2018 so that they could be discussed and coordinated by the end of July. The subsequent phase will then entail, among other things, appointing a system operator to co-design the hub and technically implement it. "With the KV 4.0 project, Kombiverkehr and all its project partners are complying with recommendations in the federal government's master plan on rail freight transport to strengthen the rail sector with digitalisation projects designed to improve productivity and quality," explained Riedl to the limited partners and guests in attendance at the shareholder's meeting.


Press photo, free for reproduction



With 137,473 consignments or 274,900 TEU (+4.4 per cent), the fast-growing northern European transport segment accounted for a significant proportion of the volume of freight on 958,299 semitrailers, swap bodies and containers (1.92 million TEU) transported in the 2017 financial year. Kombiverkehr offers services for its customers in the forwarding and logistics industry via the German Baltic Sea ports of Lübeck, Kiel and Rostock and via the fixed link.

The press photo can be downloaded here.




On the podium from left to right: Raimund Stüer (DB Cargo AG), Robert Breuhahn (Kombiverkehr), Gudrun Winner-Athens (chairperson of the board of directors of Kombiverkehr), Armin Riedl (Kombiverkehr) und undersecretary Steffen Müller (BMVI)

The press photo can be downloaded here.




Chairperson of the board of directors Gudrun Winner-Athens

The press photo can be downloaded here.




Managing director Armin Riedl

The press photo can be downloaded here.




Managing director Robert Breuhahn

The press photo can be downloaded here.




Undersecretary Steffen Müller

The press photo can be downloaded here.




View of the podium and the audience

The press photo can be downloaded here.