H.Essers launches rail link to Duisburg: “From Genk to China in one sustainable journey”
By the time you are reading this, we will have just completed our first train journeys to Duisburg. Since 7 June, a cargo train has been leaving from Genk for this German city three times a week. From there, Poland, the Baltic states, China, Russia, etc. are easily accessible. A major new step in our synchromodal development and our range of sustainable solutions for our strategic segments. Business Unit Manager Christopher Van den Daele is happy to explain how this is an important new link in our extensive network.
A few years ago, our company took over the rail terminal in Genk, located next to our road cross-dock. Train connections indeed play an important role in our sustainable strategy. Besides, during the lockdown period of last year, it proved to be an ideal way to guarantee the continuity of transport for our customers. In doing so, we mainly focus on our strategic segments, such as chemicals and healthcare products. Our (temperature-controlled) train solutions are suitable for a wide range of goods, including hazardous goods. “With the brand new rail connection, which was established in close partnership with Duisport, we are now taking the next step in expanding our rail solutions,” says Christopher Van den Daele. “The Duisburg rail hub is one of the largest in the EU.”
And so, from Genk, we get access to the whole of Europe by rail. The train works like a shuttle. It leaves Genk at night for Duisburg, where the transfer takes place later that night. In the morning, the train arrives back in Genk. Strict timing, which ensures the same lead times compared to regular road transport. “The expansion of our rail network is fully in line with H.Essers’ ambition to further develop our synchromodal solutions and to sustainably optimise our customers’ logistics flows,” says Christopher. “To give you an idea: one journey by rail to Duisburg, which is about 140 kilometres away, covers 80 trucks in terms of load. By road, this would easily amount to 11,200 kilometres. Now it is done in a single and sustainable train ride. The CO2 savings we achieve in this way are huge, and an excellent solution in anticipation of the further optimisation of combustion engines for trucks. In addition, we are also helping to solve the problem of traffic jams.”
From Genk to China
The connection via Duisburg has even more advantages. “From here, thanks to the extensive rail possibilities from Duisburg, we can, for example, continue deep into Poland. We used to rely on trucks for this. And then, of course, there is the accessibility of the Baltic states, China, Russia. The new rail link is therefore a clever new step in our synchromodal story. Although in this first phase, the train departs from Genk just three times a week, the intention is to eventually make it a daily journey. The intention is not only to transport goods via Duisburg to the North and East, but also to make the opposite movement possible and to organise transports from Genk to the South. And, not unimportantly, the customer has 100% visibility of the exact location of the loading units at all times thanks to our track & trace features.”
Would you like to know more about our synchromodal solutions for your goods? Please feel free to contact Christopher Van den Daele (christopher.vandendaele@essers.com).