The first RCG-operated train in Belgium departed from Roosendaal, the Netherlands, and arrived in the port of Zeebrugge on 14 October.

International expansion

“With the launch of our operations in Belgium, we are strengthening our position as a leading European rail logistics provider and creating, for the first time, a connection under our own traction to the ports of Zeebrugge and Antwerp. This allows us to offer our customers even more services from a single source and advance the sustainable connectivity of Europe”, said Clemens Först, CEO of ÖBB Rail Cargo Group.

In order to support the company’s international expansion in the Benelux region, RCG is looking to expand its workforce: it needs train drivers that speak French, Dutch and German and a new team lead for the Antwerp office.

Cosco’s service was launched on 25 August 2025 and links the CSP Zeebrugge terminal to Mannheim. The main customer of the service is Bosch, as our sister publication Flows reported, and the service will be operated by Lineas. From Mannheim, goods can be loaded on trucks for the last leg of their journey in various German cities.

“Customers can expect continued support and high-quality intermodal solutions that leverage Hupac’s extensive expertise and Lineas’ proven reliability as a Railway Undertaking,” stated the two companies. On behalf of Lineas, Executive Chairman Bernard Gustin underlined the excitement surrounding this project and the belief that it will succeed, just like the Antwerp-Catalonia initiative.

Michail Stahlhut, CEO of Hupac Intermodal, added: “We appreciate the possibility of running our Belgium-Italy connection via Germany and France and serving terminals in the east and west of Milan. This would increase the resilience and performance of intermodal transport.”

Fast and growing

This is not the first service connecting Bari and Belgium. A similar service is offered by Lineas: the Belgian company has a rail connection between the Apulian city and Antwerp. However, GTS wins the long-distance race by a few kilometres and with a much faster transit time. According to GTS, 50 per cent of the cargo exchanged on this line will be food and beverages. Other industries involved will be wood and plastic materials, but the service is open to all sorts of customers.

Once the roundtrips for this service increase to three, GTS will have thirteen weekly connections in total between Italy and the port of Zeebrugge: seven are from Piacenza and three from Bologna. The company offers both door2door and terminal-to-terminal services. The route of the train will be through Switzerland, where traction operations will be taken over by Swiss company BLS. This is because GTS locomotives only function on Italian rails due to differences in track electrification.

Door2door and terminal-to-terminal

Earlier in September, GTS announced a new connection within Italian borders, from Brindisi to Bologna. Because the company owns 2,700 containers, it is able to offer a door-to-door service. The available containers are 45 or 30 feet. The door-to-door service, therefore, allows GTS to take care of the whole transportation process with dedicated transport units for specific types of goods, and trucks and chassis for punctual collections and deliveries. If customers own their transport units, they can still use the GTS terminal to terminal service, with which the company provides their rail network.

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As for Birsterminal, it is a trimodal logistics platform covering an area of ​​90,000 m2 in the Swiss Rhine ports, located in Basel on the Rhine’s left bank.

One weekly departure

As part of Antwerp’s and Zeebrugge’s rail network, Terminal Container Althus has already frequent connections with them. Specifically, the destinations are connected with 12 train departures per week.

However, the link between Birsterminal and Althus is the one making the difference in this case since it is the new addition to the network. Under the name Tango Rail Line, the service will provide one weekly roundtrip between Althus and Birsfelden, focusing on containers and maritime cargo. The service will commence before the end of March.

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• Gopet Trans sets up Halkali-Antwerp connection as demand grows

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The logistics provider, founded in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1995, is an expert of the Balkan transport market, while it opened its Turkish subsidiary two years ago. It started working on the Halkali-Antwerp service with some project-based shipments for a few clients in 2021, and as it saw demand growing, it decided to make it a stable connection.

First but promising service

“This is our first set up between Turkey and Belgium. In 2020 Gopet Trans opened a new subsidiary in Istanbul, Turkey. As a result, we are now developing the local range of services, and intermodal is a logical step as there is strong development potential. We are now working on expanding the portfolio of clients using this service,” says the company.

The intermodal service carries mainly 45 high cube containers since, according to Gopet, they offer a higher level of security and integrity of goods and are friendlier in terms of terminal operations. “While we are using semitrailers on other setups (especially the ones running from Romania and Bulgaria), we don’t consider at this point integrating them on this particular route,” mentions the company.

To Benelux and further

Gopet’s trains travelling between Halkali and Antwerp make a fixed stopover in Duisburg while stoping in other destinations is an open possibility according to customers’ needs. After Duisburg, trains go to Antwerp.

From there, the logistics company handles cargo directly and transports it to the port of Zeebrugge, where it is transhipped on vessels that travel to the port of Hull in the UK for further distribution.

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Port complementarity

Antwerp is an important chemical transhipment centre, while Zeebrugge is Europe’s largest car import port and a vital LNG supply port. Therefore, BMA’s research shows that the two ports are highly complementary. Combining the two will also contribute to a digital and green economy transition. In addition, the two ports have always had extensive connections with China-Europe freight trains.

The two ports are expected to handle around 278 million tonnes of cargo annually. That’s still a lot less than Europe’s largest port, Rotterdam, which handled nearly 470 million tonnes in 2019. In terms of container volumes, the Belgian merged port will handle around 157 million tonnes per year. This is roughly the same with Rotterdam.

With an annual throughput of 18,1 million tons, the recently born port of Antwerp-Zeebrugge will become the largest car transhipment port in Europe. In addition, gas transhipment at the combined ports will account for more than 15 per cent of Europe’s total volumes.

No violation of competition

The Belgian competition authority assessed what the planned merger would mean for port concessions and competition in markets such as container, liquid bulk and rolling stock transport. Ultimately, the committee concluded that “this merger plan meets the requirements for approval.”

According to a decision last year, the current CEO of the Port of Antwerp, Jacques Vermeiren, will become chairman of the board of directors of the port of Antwerp-Zeebrugge. He will work on improving connections between the two ports, including rail transport, inland shipping and pipelines.

Also read:

• Railway plans for Antwerp and Zeebrugge still on the agenda

• Ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge merge to become Europe’s biggest hub

Seeking business opportunities

Adding to the existing ten ports belonging to the corridor, Zeebrugge and North-Sea ports are crucial rail freight players that will add value and “provide new business opportunities”. Their addition is “of strategic importance for the companies wanting to transport their goods safely and efficiently and contributes to the modal shift to rail. Reliable rail freight services, accessible to all, is the way forward and beneficial for both the environment and the economy,” says the RFC NS-B in an announcement.

The port of Zeebrugge has a clear focus on rail freight that occupies around 15 per cent of its overall cargo transport. It has multiple rail freight connections, for instance, with France, Italy, Spain, and Poland. On top of that, last year, it merged in one port company with the port of Antwerp, which already belongs to the RFC NS-B. their goal is to become the biggest container port in Europe, and one can only imagine the possibilities emerging from such a development.

On the other hand, the North-Sea port (Ghent-Terneuzen) has an equally interesting potential. The European Commission had announced since February 2021 that it aimed to include the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal zone in the North Sea-Baltic RFC. The North-Sea port, which already belongs to the Rhine-Alpine and North Sea-Mediterranean RFCs, keeps rail transport on top of the agenda. 7 to 8 million tonnes of cargo enter or leave the port by rail every year. That is 10 per cent of all freight transport between the port and the hinterland, a relatively high share compared to other ports in western Europe. More than 300 trains come and go every week.

East-West bridge

Apart from the ports in the Benelux area, the North Sea-Baltic RFC acquired another station on the Poland-Ukraine border. Medyka, a border crossing and promising terminal will “improve the land bridge between Europe and Asia in the context of the growing traffic between East and West.” “The extension of the corridor to Medyka is another step on the way to improve rail transport to the East and Asian countries, increasing the transport potential of this Corridor and expanding the transport offer, which positively fits in the diversification strategy of PKP PLK” explains RFC NS-B.

Medyka terminal was originally used for the transport of iron ore. Indeed the terminal is part of PKP’s diversification strategy, with PKP Cargo aiming to “turn Medyka into a new Malaszewicze”. However, since rail transport of this commodity was suspended, PKP Cargo purchased two reach stackers to handle containers. Currently, it can handle 3-4 trains per day. One of the main advantages is that the terminal offers transhipment from narrow to standard gauge (1435mm to 1520mm). Moreover, it offers storage possibilities, so the transhipment does not need to be carried out wagon per wagon, as in nearby terminals.

Also read:

• Port of Zeebrugge wants to become a rail freight hub
• North-Sea Baltic corridor now includes North Sea Port
• PKP Cargo wants to turn Medyka into ‘new Malaszewicze’

From indirect to direct connection

Since 2019 the port of Zeebrugge has had a frequent connection with Dourges in north-eastern France operated by Novatrans. Strasbourg is also a critical destination served daily since last July, under the synergy of Naviland and Lineas. As for Lautenbourg, positioned northern from Strasbourg, its connections with Zeebrugge include barge and rail freight links.

All French destinations are important for Zeebrugge’s inland connectivity, explains Le Petit. “However, with Dourges, we have access to Lyon and Marseille, with cargo distributed by CMA CGM,” says Le Petit. “On paper, we have a rail connection with Lyon and Marseille, but now we are in the design phase of a direct link between the port of Zeebrugge and the French Mediterranean port since the existing volumes allow the redevelopment of rail products,” he adds.

“French rail infrastructure has been an issue”

During the last few years, the situation in France has not been in favour of rail freight, and, as a result, the port of Zeebrugge struggled a bit to expand its services. “France has put a massive amount of energy into passenger rail transport, to the detriment of freight. Solutions were sought to get trucks off the road, but the rail infrastructure is outdated,” narrates Le Petit.

The news concerning the French national plan to develop rail freight and upgrade and expand the railway infrastructure must have sounded like music to the ears of the port’s executives. The same applies to the cooperation between SNCF Réseau and VNF, who want to work together and strengthen operational complementarity between rail and river networks to enhance the modal shift. Since the port of Zeebrugge also faced some limitations with barge transport, the latest developments and joint investments seem to fit its expansion plans.

Also read:

• Port of Zeebrugge wants to become a rail freight hub
• More weekly connections between Zeebrugge and Strasbourg
• New railway connection port of Zeebrugge – Dourges

More direct rail connections

Rail already occupies around 15 per cent of the port’s cargo transport. However, as Abel explained, Zeebrugge wants more. One way to succeed is to effectively utilise deep-sea and short-sea connections and their linking with direct trains. Steps are already taken in this sense. For instance, in early July, Zeebrugge’s CSP terminal acquired daily connections with Strasbourg in eastern France.

Moreover, during June, Hupac linked Zeebrugge with Brescia in northern Italy with two roundtrips per week and Barcelona in Spain with five roundtrips per week. In September, the company aims to link the Belgian port with Warsaw in Poland. Most probably, this service will offer three weekly roundtrips.

The weekly container train to and from CSP Zeebrugge Terminal and Terminal Container Athus is also restarting. This rail connection launched in late 2019 but was suspended when COVID-19 disrupted global container services. Terminal Container Althus is positioned at the junction of the borders between Belgium, France and Luxemburg, making it an ideal gateway for traffic to and from the Benelux and France. All connections serve a common purpose, enhancing the development of Zeebrugge’s hinterland network.

Investing in non-cranable technologies

Abel underlines that the next crucial step for the Belgian port is to become more active in the field of non-cranabe trailers. Zeebrugge is currently investigating the technologies used to load and unload non-cranable trailers and aims to invest in them more. Specifically, the port wants to offer ready solutions to its customers without forcing them to invest in their fleets.

With more non-cranable containers on trains, Zeebrugge will undoubtedly boost its rail transport volumes while removing cargo from the roads and becoming a new intermodal gateway in Belgium.

Also read:

• Railway plans for Antwerp and Zeebrugge still on the agenda
• Ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge merge to become Europe’s biggest hub
• More weekly connections between Zeebrugge and Strasbourg
• Hupac outsets wave of intermodal expansion