Rippling effect

The company recently published its first monthly update on the European container market, which highlighted how feeder connections in the Mediterranean are becoming critical constraints. These are services connecting larger ports on the Mediterranean Sea to smaller regional ones all across Europe.

The current disruptions are causing longer and unpredictable transit times, additional costs for demurrage and storage and equipment imbalances, Monti pointed out. “The core issue is not capacity shortage, but loss of operational timing and network stability”, he added. In other words, it is all about the timing mismatches: if a ship arrives late, it causes a rippling effect across the whole supply chain.

Is there an end in sight?

Given the current circumstances, it is hard to predict when things will go back to normal. The Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and Oman, continues to remain closed. A ceasefire between the US and Iran was signed yesterday and included the reopening of this corridor, used to move 20% of the world’s oil. However, Israeli attacks on Lebanon led Iran to close it again just a few hours later.

This uncertainty leaves little room for optimism, as the situation has been unstable since the end of February. Moreover, Hormuz is not the only key strait in the Middle East that has caused instability in the past years. Since 2023, the strait of Bab-el Mandeb, linking the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, has been under stress due to tensions between the US and the Houthi in Yemen.

This is the second time that a large rail freight player receives a loan from this package. A couple of months ago, rail freight wagon lessor VTG got 340 million euros for the purchase of new rolling stock. Over the past few years, KfW IPEX-Bank has also invested in MFD Rail for the purchase of over 6,000 intermodal wagons and Wascosa for the acquisition of 570 new units.

However, the development is clear: 2025 brought no relief to the Swiss rail freight performance. Like in 2024, the industry declined both in terms of tonnage transported and performance in tonne-kilometres.

Some of the quarterly changes seem alarming. Between Q2 2024 and Q2 2025, transport performance decreased by over 18%, according to the preliminary numbers. During that same period, the total weight transported shrank by 13.5%. In the last quarter of 2025, transported performance also declined by over 12% compared to Q4 2024.

Infrastructure works are a major hindrance

The Swiss statistics agency did not provide an explanation for the decline. Switzerland plays a key role in transalpine traffic however, and that is exactly where performance has been slowing since 2021. A reverse modal shift is taking place, and that was no different in 2025.

The modal share of transalpine rail freight in Switzerland fell below 70% for the first time since the mid-2010s, reaching 68.6% in 2025. “The ongoing decline in transalpine rail freight traffic is due to poor quality and reliability along Europe’s north-south routes”, the Swiss government said earlier.

This is confirmed by Simon Wey, who heads the Swiss shippers’ association VAP. Especially, the many infrastructure works in Germany hinder rail freight operations along the Rhine corridor. Switzerland has also pointed to the challenging economic climate as a culprit.

Simultaneously, however, rail freight traffic has been hindered by renovation works on the Simplon tunnel, which crosses into Italy. For six months each year until 2029, there will be work ongoing. This impacts the capacity for rail freight. On the Italian side of the border, similar works are ongoing. The Domodossola – Milan route was closed entirely between 8 June and 27 July, as well as from 31 August to 12 September.

Wagon wheel safety rules

VAP’s Simon Wey also tells RailFreight.com that the infamous wagon wheel safety rules had an impact on 2025’s figures. The rules were introduced in the autumn of 2025 and are currently being fought over in court, but the rules had an immediate impact on the success of rail freight. Shippers said that they “took the first possible opportunity” to switch to the road due to the ongoing uncertainty created by Switzerland’s regulation ideas.

The outlook for 2026 is not much better. Wey expects a further reverse modal shift to the road in light of the transalpine rolling highway cancellation at the end of 2025.

The plan envisages that rail freight transport among the signatory nations will meet and possibly exceed the volume recorded during the first decade of the 21st century, although the companies do not specify within which timeframe this should happen.

“The cooperation covers two key directions: the transport of goods between China and Europe via existing rail corridors, as well as the transport of goods arriving in or departing from European ports, between terminals on the European continent, supplemented by road transport”, writes Srbija Kargo. Much Chinese freight enters the Greek port of Piraeus, from where it travels to the European hinterland through North Macedonia and Serbia.

“Transport organised in this way brings numerous advantages – faster delivery, shorter transit times, greater cost-effectiveness, reliability in accordance with the timetable, more efficient logistics processes and lower environmental impact”, Srbija Kargo continues.

Key goals of cooperation

Rail freight operations on the cross-Balkan route should improve through the “integration of rail transport relations”, the simplification of logistics chains, common digital solutions, and enhanced cross-border cooperation, the involved companies state.

Moreover, the MoU identifies various areas for future cooperation. These include the development of intermodal transport (semi-trailers, containers), interoperability, knowledge transfers, simplified customs procedures and a digital data exchange. It also mentions coordinated rail infrastructure development, joint marketing efforts, and personnel training as potential areas for collaboration.

In terms of train-kilometres, FS Group freight trains achieved a total of 46 million. This number is down by 5.1% compared to 2024. Similarly to the tonne-kilometre performance, foreign operations did marginally better, shrinking by 4.6%. “The result was affected by the weak macroeconomic environment, characterised by high uncertainty due to both the protectionist trade policy of the new U.S. administration, and pre-existing geopolitical tensions”, FS explains.

The financial picture

In financial terms, the company’s net loss amounted to 124 million euros in 2024. FS Group, which includes rail freight companies like Mercitalia and TX Logistik, therefore improved its net result by 22.6% in 2025.

FS Group’s freight operating result (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation, EBITDA) looks much better: 105 million euros in the positive. That is an increase of 41.1%. This is mostly attributable to a higher revenue (+48 million euros, achieved by TX Logistik, Mercitalia’s shunting and terminal branch and intermodal recovery).

At the same time, the company faced higher operating and personnel costs, which exerted downward pressure on EBITDA.

Stellantis’ commitment to rail

This initiative at the port of Boulogne Calais is part of a larger Stellantis project to increase rail transport. For example, two years ago the company re-implemented a rail connection to its factory in Hordain, 160 kilometres from Calais, after a 13-year hiatus. However, the port did not provide specific information about whether the trains will be coming from there or other plants connected to the railways such as Poissy, near Paris.

CMA CGM’s expansion

For companies like CMA CGM, vertical integration is the name of the game. The acquisition of the capital of RLE would follow the recent takeover of the intermodal segment of Freightliner UK, finalised at the end of January. Over the past few years, the French shipping company expanded its logistics portfolio with the acquisition of CEVA Logistics, Bolloré Logistics and a 20% stake in the EUROGATE Terminal in Hamburg.

Ahead of the Hamburg-Berlin closure, infrastructure manager DB InfraGO was warned multiple times that a single disruption on the detour route could be dangerous. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

On top of the overhead line failure, there were more infrastructure failures in Peine, and overhead line damage on the line between Hannover and Lehrte. “All three lines are essential for smooth rail freight operations while the Hamburg-Berlin corridor renovation continues”, explains the German rail freight association Die Güterbahnen. Rail freight is said to be hit particularly hard as widespread and unplanned shutdowns take place on sidings.

Six-figure losses

“The Port of Hamburg is suffering particularly badly from the shutdown”, commented the association’s Managing Director Peter Westenberger. “But so are the railway companies. One of our members pointed out that last night alone will cause six-figure losses.”

“Customers will feel the effects for days, perhaps weeks. […] The lines were not adequately upgraded beforehand. Consequently, rail freight traffic is currently very vulnerable. Now it is crucial to mitigate the damage and get operations back on track as quickly as possible”, Westenberger said in the afternoon of 1 April.

The so-called shunting agreement is “essential to provide clarity and certainty to all parties involved during the execution of works along the entire port railway”, the Port of Rotterdam says. It defines the procedures for transferring trains administratively and physically, and which responsibilities apply to both contractors and clients.

Pilot

The project ‘Track Together’ will initially run for seven months in a pilot format. If proven successful, it will continue on a structural basis. Its goal is to prevent train cancellations and long delays. Terminals will benefit, according to the port, because their tracks can also be freed up for other planned trains.

“Track Together strengthens cooperation between rail operators in the Port of Rotterdam. By sharing information more effectively, the platform contributes to more efficient operations and a more reliable rail network for all parties involved”, commented Jordy Hermes, Product Design Specialist at LTE.

During those 10 years, road freight grew in every EU country except for Luxembourg, Greece and Portugal. The largest increases were recorded in the Baltics and Romania. On the other hand, rail freight has been decreasing since the turn of the century. Between 2005 and 2023, only six European countries increased their rail freight modal share, with a much more contained growth compared to road freight.

Unreachable goals?

The picture painted by Eurostat is definitely a bleak one. Years of setting goals and talks on how to increase the modal share of rail have led to the exact opposite results: more trucks on EU roads. When available, data from 2025 showed that this trend is far from over and it is also impacting rail freight strongholds such as Switzerland.

Rather than getting close to reaching 30% in 2030, as dictated by the goals set by the EU, rail freight has been walking the opposite path. Some countries are trying to solve decades of ignoring the railway by implementing massive upgrade projects, which are causing just as many issues due to lines being unavailable.

The largest rail freight operators continue to lose money and are forced into restructuring to avoid bankruptcies or EU sanctions. Fragmentation remains a problem when it comes to implementing continent-wide initiatives such as DAC and ERTMS. There is some optimism transpiring for the future due to the conclusion of many construction projects, but the survival of companies until then keeps being uncertain.