Maersk is launching a new rail product from the Port of Barcelona to Southern France especially designed to cut transit times of ocean cargo destined to the areas Toulouse, Bordeaux and Lyon by using Barcelona as an alternative gateway. Starting early November there will be three weekly direct block trains between Barcelona and Toulouse as well as one weekly connection between Barcelona and Lyon. Via Toulouse the solution also connects cargo to Bordeaux seamlessly by using a partner network. Furthermore, it is intended to extend the connectivity on the Spanish side by rail to the areas of Tarragona and Zaragoza.
This new offering can shorten transit times for import and export cargo in the areas Toulouse, Bordeaux and Lyon by up to 12 days (7 days on average) compared to traditional routings via French or North European ports. Thanks to shorter transport distances and the utilisation of electrified trains it can also be a more environmentally friendly routing. The block trains can also be booked for intra-continental cargo between Spain and France.
“We are always striving to improve and simplify logistics solutions for our customers and offer better alternatives. By offering them our reliable landside distribution network via rail from the Port of Barcelona we will also increase reliability and resilience in our customers’ supply chains”, said Emilio de la Cruz, Managing Director of Maersk’s Area South West Europe.
Maersk is operating this new end to end service via its own company APM Spain Railways and cooperates for the trains with the partners Captrain and Naviland.
Thanks to brand new interoperable locomotives, the block trains neither have to stop to change the locomotive or replace wheel-sets at the Spanish-French border for seamless operations.
Source: Maersk
