- 937,959 truck consignments shifted to rail in 2021
- Forwarders save 1.1 million tons of CO₂
- Call for harmonised management of engineering works

(Frankfurt/Main, 9 February 2022) Last year Kombiverkehr KG shifted a total of 937,959 truck consignments (one consignment corresponds to the capacity of a truck-trailer combination), or 1.88 million TEU, from road and sea routes onto climate-friendly rail. "The increase of 9.3 per cent in transported consignments compared with the previous year means we are on a clear growth trajectory, with transport volumes from pre-Covid times having already been exceeded in summer 2021. At the start of 2022 we set a course for the further positive development of the company with new product ranges and capacity increases," says managing director Alexander Ochs, commenting on the consignment figures for the previous year.

If the consistently high demand for intermodal services is to be met while remaining competitive, the rise in electricity prices for traction services must be mitigated and the management of national and international engineering works must be harmonised to ensure a plannable quality of service. "2021 was another year with many different operational challenges that we have largely been able to overcome with stability, flexibility and resilience as a network provider," adds his fellow managing director, Armin Riedl. "At the end of the year we could have grown even faster. However, rescheduling as a result of missed terminal slots and disrupted wagon runs due to the service quality of the railways prevented this." Looking forward, Riedl considers it vital that the management of engineering works is harmonised at both national and international level. "We are therefore calling on network operators to concentrate on building, keep corridors open and give early notice of engineering works. And we urge politicians to provide the financial resources that would alleviate the impact of these works. There is more potential than ever for shifting to environmentally friendly rail, and this can be leveraged with the appropriate quality of service."

Positive trend in consignments in all transport sectors
In the second year of the pandemic, intermodal transport again proved to be a reliable alternative to end-to-end road freight transport, delivering a positive impact on business development thanks to an attractive portfolio of 170 daily direct train services in more than 25 countries across Europe. Kombiverkehr KG grew in all transport sectors, posting rises of 3.2 per cent in services to and from German Baltic Sea ports (83,486 truck consignments), 8.5 per cent in international services (663,949 truck consignments) and a huge 15.4 per cent in national services (190,521 truck consignments). 

The reasons for the growth in volumes are many and varied. The integration of the MegaHub Lehrte rapid-transfer facility has not only connected a significant regional business region to the operator's European intermodal network, but also enabled new routes in both domestic and European transport to be added with expanded capacities via the new hub in the east of Hanover. In addition, new train products to and from Mortara in northern Italy via Switzerland have opened up new connections in Benelux services, the frequency of services having already been increased during the year due to rising demand. These were boosted by new services, such as between Munich and Wels in Austria, as well as various capacity increases on increasing routes.

Strong start to 2022
With new products such as the Nuremberg – Rotterdam Cobelfred route, which has been available in cooperation with TFG Transfracht GmbH since the middle of January, Kombiverkehr is offering new continental transport options to and from Great Britain. "In company trains, which perfectly round off our product portfolio as an intermodal operator, we also see possibilities for meeting customer requirements and placing our services successfully on the market. For us as well as our partners and many forwarding customers, however, it goes without saying that the open train network is and remains our yardstick," says Ochs, giving an insight into the strategic product orientation. "We offer CT coaching to support every logistics company in the transition from road to intermodal transport with the aim of making the shift to rail as easy as possible." The company sees another accelerator for Combined Transport being the EU's economic projection for the current year, which forecasts growth of 4.4 per cent for the eurozone but at the same time warns of possible restrictions in logistics chains that could arise in the short to medium term as a result of Omicron or other variants of the virus. With its predictive pandemic concepts, Kombiverkehr KG and its service partners are doing everything they can to keep operations going at all times.

More than 1.1 million tons of carbon dioxide saved
The increase in volumes to more than 937,000 consignments also allows customers of the intermodal transport provider to reduce their carbon footprint. At 1,107,600 tons, the saving in emissions came in a hundred tons higher than the figure for the previous year. Alongside the perennial problems of a shortage of drivers and resource bottlenecks, climate protection is currently high up on the list of reasons to move to Combined Transport. The results achieved together with customers indicate that climate goals can indeed be achieved by having the main leg on rail. The intermodal service provider and its traction partners will step up the range of carbon-neutral transport solutions in order to make the CO₂-free transport chain a reality in the long term.

937,959 truck consignments, 1,107,600 fewer tons of CO₂: Kombiverkehr KG is growing in all transport sectors in 2021, enabling its customers to achieve a sustainable improvement in their carbon footprint.



The press photo can be downloaded here.