“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.”

Nevertheless, Transalpine traffic could hinder further growth in 2022 because of the extended construction works planned on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor throughout the year. Hupac, though, has plans to counterbalance them.

Economic slowdown in 2022

In the first quarter of 2022, Hupac recorded traffic growth of around 4 per cent. In April, the traffic volume was below the previous year’s level. This was due to the three weeks of construction on the Rhine Valley route, which halved transport capacity. “We expect the construction sites scheduled for the summer to be planned much better and more freight-friendly on the rail side, and we will campaign for this at all levels,” said Hupac’s CEO Michael Stahlhut.

The war in Ukraine and China’s lockdown policy will also play a role in decelerating the company’s economic advance. “The war in Ukraine renewed disruption of global supply chains. On top of that, the current Covid situation in China and the upcoming interest rate rises due to high inflation make 2022 a challenging year. Predictions are difficult in this situation, but at the end of the year, Hupac expects a single-digit growth percentage”, highlighted Hans-Jorg Bertschi, chairman of Hupac’s board of directors.

Resilience top priority

At least for the factors, like the Rhine-Alpine traffic that Hupac can influence, the company has devised some concrete plans. The war in Ukraine and China’s lockdown policy might be out of Hupac’s hands; however, this is not the case for Transalpine traffic. “The primary goal is to stabilise quality on the various routes, especially on the transalpine lines marked by intensive construction activity. We will manage the performance of our network even more actively in the future,” said Stahlhut. “We also expect a corresponding effort from our rail partners. Our declared goal is quality leadership. If the quality is right, traffic growth will come all by itself”, added Stahlhut.

The company’s CEO demanded that passenger and freight traffic be treated equally on the Rhine-Alpine route. This would be one prerequisite for stability during construction periods. Not relying only on the decision of infrastructure managers, though, Hupac came up with some measures that will allow it to continue rail freight operations in the corridor efficiently no matter the situation. These measures are:

• Increase of wagons for reserve train compositions by 50% to 12% of the fleet in transalpine traffic
• Strengthening of the disturbance management in close cooperation with the railway partner
• Relieving the load on the Busto Arsizio-Gallarate terminal through diversification via other terminals in the greater Milan area
• Additional complementary offers to the Rhine-Alpine corridor via other transalpine corridors
• Additional offer of substitute connections in case of planned major construction sites
• Increase of the locomotive driver team that Hupac keeps under contract for ad-hoc operations in case of breakdowns

Terminals and millions in investments for growth

Resilience is not the only goal for Hupac, however. The intermodal company aims to grow more in the coming few years. Turning more trucks to rail and building an extensive terminal network seems to be the approach for this target. “For the strategy period 2022-2026, the company is targeting an annual volume increase of 7 per cent. With a forecast economic growth of 2 per cent, this will achieve a real shift of truck traffic from road to rail. By 2026, Hupac aims to achieve a traffic volume of 1,6 million road consignments per year, representing an increase of 40 per cent compared to 2021. The board of directors has approved an investment programme of around 250 million euros to achieve this goal”, explained Hupac.

The company also underlined that a key factor in succeeding in the traffic growth goals is the terminal investments. Hupac’s terminal in Brinow next to Warsaw in Poland will be ready for operations by the end of 2022. The company has more major terminal plans underway. In Italy, for instance, the company aims to build two large scale terminals in cooperation with Mercitalia by the end of 2025. They will complement operations in Piacenza and Milano Smistamento and will be located in Northern Italy. Moreover, Hupac plans to expand the capacity of the Novara CIM Terminal, of which it became operator a few months ago.

Finally, Hupac also participates in the construction of two more terminals. The Duisburg Gateway Terminal expected in 2025, and the Basel Nord Terminal expected in 2026.

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Not an unknown territory

The Pomezia terminal is not new to the market. Serving the broader metropolitan area of Rome, Italy’s capital, it is used by big European rail freight players. Hupac already has another connection to the terminal with Busto Arsizio near Milan.

Additionally, Lineas links Pomezia Antwerp, also stopping at Nola, near Naples. Finally, Samskip Van Dieren Multimodal has a rail link between Pomezia and Rotterdam which also passes through Padova Interporto, Melzo Rail Hub Milano and Eurogateway terminal Novara during its transit through Italy.

As a result, Pomezia already has a connection with Novara but from a different company. Hupac also operates there but with a link to Busto Arsizio. So why is the new connection to Novara important? With Hupac investing in Novara’s CIM terminal by becoming its operator, it started transforming it into its north Italian hub.

Consequently, through Novara, Pomezia will have a gateway to multiple central and northern European terminals. Namely, the company mentioned that it links Pomezia to Ludwigshafen, Karlsruhe, Hannover and Lübeck in Germany, while in the future, it’s possible to connect with Zeebrugge, Rotterdam and Cologne.

Also read:

• Hupac becomes operator of Novara CIM terminal

• Intermodal traffic Italy-northern ports acquires two more services

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Recent terminal developments

Hupac is well known for the constant development of its services, whether it’s about launching new ones or upgrading existing ones with extra trips. The news about the Brescia-Munich link comes as no surprise in this sense. However, the latest developments concerning the Swiss-based company relate mainly to terminals.

For instance, last week, the company announced that it took over the operation of the Novara CIM terminal via Combiconnect, its subsidiary. Moreover, the company also proceeded to some expansion measures with its Busto Arsizio-Gallarate terminal, one of the heaviest used terminals in its Italian network.

Specifically, it enhanced the terminal infrastructure, with new spaces dedicated to parking semi-trailers, doubling the entry/exit road lanes, and increased space for locomotives. Finally, it put two new shunting locomotives and two tractors for the internal handling of loading units in service.

Taking over a hub

Novara is a hub in Hupac’s intermodal network for transalpine traffic. Situated in industrial northern Italy, it also serves as a consolidation point for Italian traffic flows. For example, it links to Bari and Pescara in the south of Italy and German cities as Hannover, Karlsruhe and Köln, apart from Rotterdam and Zeebrugge.

“Today Novara CIM handles over 60 train pairs a week, mostly from the operator Hupac Intermodal, on a 150,000 square metre facility equipped with seven loading and unloading tracks”, explained Piero Solcà, director terminal infrastructures at Hupac Group.

More investments

Nevertheless, acquiring the terminal’s operations did not seem enough for the company since it wants to invest more and upscale its services. “We aim to develop further this strategic terminal for modal shift of transalpine traffic. The investment plans are already in the drawer. They include the lengthening of the tracks from the current 600 metres to the European standard of 740 metres, new entry/exit tracks, gantry cranes and a sophisticated OCR system for the automatic reading of train and loading unit data,” continued Solcà.

Apart from that, the managing company Combiconnect has already ordered equipment that will be used in the terminal from 18 October onwards. The order includes two new cranes and three tractors.

Focus on terminals

Hupac’s focus on expanding its terminal network has been apparent throughout the year. Before taking over operations at the Novara CIM terminal, the intermodal company acquired a 4,16 per cent share at the WienCont terminal in Vienna back in August. “This participation is an important step in expanding the intermodal network, which will bring more traffic to the railways in the future and increase intermodal traffic volumes. Terminals are door openers for a shift to rail and support the green spirit”, emphasised back then Michail Stahlhut, CEO of Hupac.

On top of that, Hupac has started constructing a new terminal in Central Poland in April 2021. The new facility will be located In Brwinów near Warsaw. By autumn 2022, the operator will handle 740 metre long trains on four transhipment tracks at this centrally located facility. Simultaneously, it aims to start constructing another terminal, this time in Minsk, Belarus, to put the Eastern European country in the game of the New Silk Road more actively. Not only will it use it as a transit country, but it will also have a transhipment terminal there that will provide better and more efficient links with Eurasian routes.

Also read:

• Hupac buys stake in trimodal terminal WienCont
• Hupac adds second train to Lübeck-Novara service
• Hupac outsets wave of intermodal expansion

Non-stop additions

Quite impressively, Hupac entered Q2 of 2021 with a strong appetite for more trip additions on existing connections, but also for more new rail links and network expansion. Since early May, the company announced new connections between Italian destinations like Novara-Pordenone and Busto Arsizio-Marzaglia/Modena.

Additionally, it launched a new service between Rotterdam and Pordenone with three roundtrips per week, while it also linked Zeebrugge in Belgium with Barcelona in Spain. For the latest, the trains also pass through Antwerp and Busto Arsizio, and the service runs five times a week.

Also read:

• Hupac outsets wave of intermodal expansion
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Expansion in Italy

Among the most important Italian projects for Hupac is the connection between Novara in Northern Italy and Pordenone in the country’s North-East end. The new rail link will start operating during May and provide three weekly roundtrips to the company’s customers.

Moreover, another forthcoming service will connect the terminal in Busto Arsizio with Marzaglia/Modena. This is a short rail connection in the North of Italy, which will put Marzaglia/Moderna in Hupac’s intermodal map. It will take off in September, also with three weekly roundtrips. Through Busto Arsizio, Marzaglia/Modena will acquire access to other regional services and services across the North-South axis.

More activity on a European level

June, July and September will also be full of interesting developments since Hupac will add some new European services. The company did not choose the link between Novara and Pordenone aimlessly. Instead, it will utilise Pordenone as a new destination between Rotterdam and Italy. June will be the starting point for intermodal trains to begin running between the Rotterdam C.Ro terminal and Pordenone three times per week in both directions.

On the other hand, Zeebrugge will have a starring role since it will connect two times per week with Brescia in Italy. Most importantly, though, the Belgian hub will also connect with Barcelona with the trains travelling through Antwerp and Busto Arsizio five times per week. Both services will also offer short-sea connections with the UK and Scandinavian ports.

Furthermore, with a new connection between Koln and the port of Kiel in Germany, Hupac will attempt to use this route and connect Italy with Goteborg in Sweden. According to the company, this service will also serve as an alternative to the heavily disturbed intermodal route through Denmark. This move was essential following the lengthy ban of pocket wagons on semi-trailers that the Scandinavian country imposed for several months.

More terminals

Since the beginning of April, Hupac has started constructing a new terminal in Central Poland. The new facility will be located In Brwinów near Warsaw. By autumn 2022, the operator will handle 740 metre long trains on four transhipment tracks at this centrally located facility.

The new transhipment terminal will allow for the consolidation of trains to Russia and China carrying goods from all over Europe. Many intermodal trains depart to Asia from central Poland, and many trains return through the popular border crossing between Belarus and Russia. The project covers an area of ​​almost 14 hectares. It includes a storage yard of 42,000 m2, four transhipment tracks with a minimum length of 750 m and administrative buildings.

In the same way, it aims to start constructing another terminal, this time in Minsk, Belarus, to put the Eastern European country in the game of the New Silk Road more actively. Not only will it use it as a transit country, but it will also have its own transhipment terminal there that will provide better and more efficient links with Eurasian routes.

Also read:

• Hupac takes the train from Geleen to South-Eastern Europe
• Hupac starts building new terminal in Central Poland
• Bureaucracy still hampers expansion of P400 network across Europe

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Additionally, the new network will probably play a role in the modal shift because it will put rail transport in the spotlight. “The agreement with Hupac will allow our customers and partners to develop and increase the traffic destined to the other side of the Alps that currently does not pass through Italian ports”, said Guido Nicolini, CEO of Logtainer. Indeed, connections from Ligurian ports, across the Alps, to Swiss and South German industrial hubs, combined with the completion of construction works on the Italian rail network, will significantly boost rail traffic.

Following a steady year

The agreement was announced around the same time of Hupac’s assessment for 2020. During the past year, the intermodal operator managed to keep its traffic volumes balanced since it moved approximately one million consignments. This number equals almost two million TEUs and presents a slight decrease of 0,9 per cent compared to 2019.

The difficult conditions created by Covid-19 resulted in a prostration of maritime traffic which, combined with the European lockdown, dropped the numbers. Transalpine traffic through Switzerland saw the biggest impact with a 2,5 per cent decrease, while non-transalpine traffic remained steady and saw a slight increase of 0,5 per cent.

Call for support

In total, the company managed to maintain its network and cope with the circumstances. Michael Stahlhut, Hupac’s CEO, stated: “Given the extraordinary circumstances, we are satisfied with the traffic volume achieved”. However, the company’s operational areas felt a more severe impact from the pandemic than traffic in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. With public financial support being moderate currently, Hupac relies on extra measures to help it cope with costs and maintain productivity high. “We are aiming for the maximum possible train length – operationally and in terms of planning. Expanding the network to a standard train length of 740 m is our top priority – the sooner, the better”, added Stahlhut.

In any case, the company manages to keep its standards high, and developments like the cooperation with Logtainer prove that. Despite the challenging past year, Hupac keeps investing and expanding its network to its customers’ best interest. Subsequently, financial support for its green services should be a prerequisite.

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• Hupac launches new P400 connection from Novara in Italy

Intensification

Since September, Hupac has taken several initiatives to reinforce its intermodal services both in Italy and on a European level. In that month the company announced the launching of a new P400 service that would link Bari in southeastern Italy with Novarra, a railway hub positioned in the northwestern part of the country. With this service, it became feasible to connect one of Italy’s biggest southern ports with the north, and subsequently with the rest of Europe.

Two months later, at the end of November, it became known that the Gotthard corridor was complete after years of construction. The specific passage enables the unhindered intermodal transportation from Italian terminals through Switzerland and to other countries. Namely, some of the destinations that became approachable for P400 semi-trailers include Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Taulov and Hamburg.

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The intensification process of the company’s services was sealed on 2 December, with the announcement of Ticino becoming a central intermodal hub. As mentioned previously, Ticino is located in the Southern part of Switzerland and borders with Italy. Facilitated by the forthcoming operation of Gotthard, Ticino and its two terminals will now connect Italy ten times per week with the European hinterland.

Upgrade

Understandably, the opening of the passage in the Swiss Alps is of great importance. Intermodal transportation was taking place before that, of course. However, the beginning of its operation will allow the area of Ticino to upgrade its services significantly: First of all, transit times will become quicker and more punctual.

Secondly, with the integration of the Swiss Split network of railway connections, all Swiss destinations will link under a ‘one-stop-shop’ scheme. Finally, the network will subserve all kinds of products, including ADR dangerous goods. On top of that, connectivity with the Benelux area and its ports will not stop. Instead, rail links will continue even to Scandinavia and cities like Taulov in Denmark.

P400 semi-trailers

A P400 semitrailer provides internal space with a height of three metres. Consequently, there is enough room for the division of pallets on three levels. Capacity then is incredibly increased for a single trailer, a quite advantageous feature, especially in the modern transport market.

Nevertheless, this intermodal solution is not widely used yet due to the difficulty of adapting the old rail system in its needs. For instance, in France, the operation of these units became available almost a year ago.

Among the ambitions of the parties is to further develop the transport possibilities between Europe and China. Hupac and duisport will cooperate more closely to optimise their activities on the New Silk Road, they said at the fair. Both partners will jointly develop terminals along the Silk Road and work on solutions to reduce the journey times of Chinese trains.

Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge

Another priority is the improved connection of the western ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge. This will strengthen the Port of Duisburg as a gateway for the onward transport of maritime freight within Europe. “We see great potential in strengthening our decades of cooperation. The aim is to implement Switzerland’s modal shift targets on the north-south axis, and to connect the Hupac network in central Europe to the transcontinental traffic flows on the east-west axis”, said Michail Stahlhut, CEO of Hupac Intermodal.

Erich Staake, CEO of duisport added: “Through this cooperation, we are developing additional services for our customers and we are expanding our international network as a premium port and our position as the most important European hub in intra-European and international trade.”