Kiel, April 21st 2016: The direct rail shuttle link between the Baltic port of Kiel and northern Italy is celebrating a jubilee today: it is marking the start of its 1000th shuttle train from Kiel’s Schwedenkai Terminal to Verona’s Quadrante Europa Terminal. “Kiel-Verona is making a sustained contribution towards moving traffic onto the railways and has completely fulfilled all the high expectations”, said Peter Dannewitz, Head of Sales at Kombiverkehr KG. “The service is now a firmly established part of eco-friendly cargo transport in our European network between the Baltic and Italy”, he added. The shuttle train service was started in October 2012 and supported for three years by funds from the EU’s Marco Polo programme. During this period, from November 2012 to October 2015, more than 557 million ton/kms were recorded and as of today more than 20,000 load units, mainly trailers, have already been switched to railway transport. The service is marketed by operators Kombiverkehr and Cemat as well as by the shipping company Stena Line. Traction partners are the DB, RBH, Lokomotion and RTC.

After getting under way initially with just two departures a week in both directions, timetable frequency was increased to five trains a week in September 2014. In particular, this higher transport capacity and frequency will meet the demands of newly acquired major customer LKW WALTER, Europe’s biggest transport organisation for complete loads. The trains enable direct cargo on-shipment in Kiel to and from Sweden with the shipping company Stena Line offering attractive transit times. “Train and ferry capacities are synchronised exactly”, says Stena Line Freight Commercial Manager Christof Weichbrodt. “Forwarders are able to contract for the entire journey from Gothenburg to Verona with just a single booking”, he adds.  Train lengths currently are 540 m for a maximum weight of 1,420 tons. Up to 32 trailers are moved on each train combination. Gianluigi Tacelli, Area Sales Manager for Brenner Transport on the Germany-Italy route at CEMAT S.p.A. says: “rail cargo transport is an ecologically advantageous form of transport. Compared to long-distance road haulage, the emission of greenhouse gases into the environment during rail transport is significantly reduced. More than a ton of CO2 per trailer is saved on the rail journey from Kiel to Verona.

Intermodal rail/ship cargo transport is increasing in significance all the time in hinterland traffic to and from the Port of Kiel. Last year more than 28,000 consignments were loaded onto rail waggons and that positive development is continuing in 2016 with 2.7% more recorded in the first quarter. In order to enable fast and secure handling of the growing volumes of trailers and containers at the Schwedenkai Terminal, the Port of Kiel invested in a portal crane which has been in operation since December 2014. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) said: “The demands of the Scandinavian countries for rail-based Alpine cargo transport are rising. Direct shuttle trains to and from Verona are an almost ideal time-related and market-oriented solution”. Alongside the customer consignments forwarded by ferry to Gothenburg, the trains are also available to other customers. Consignments which arrive from Denmark for instance can also be transshipped. “The shuttle train link between Kiel and Verona is a big success”, said Dirk Claus. Now it is a question of Kiel working towards making the Meimersdorf marshalling yards fit enough to handle train combinations of 750 m. That will increase the attractiveness of intermodal cargo transport even further.

Milestones in the Kiel-Verona direct shuttle train service:

• Start of the Kiel-Verona service on October 7th 2012
• Opening frequency: two departures a week in both directions
• Support from the EU Marco Polo Programme from November 1st 2012
• Timetable frequency increased to five trains a week in September 2014
• Gantry crane (RTG) goes into service at the Schwedenkai on December 2014
• Close of the Marco Polo Programme on October 31st 2015
• Traffic volume switch during the Marco Polo period: 557 million t/kms
• Saving of more than one ton of CO2 per consignment (25 t trailer)
• 1000th train departure from Kiel on April 21st
  
  

Photographs are available here for download