APM Terminals announces that its Maasvlakte II new rail service between Rotterdam terminal and Venlo, is successful due to its five-times-per-week service, and the Terminal plans to increase it up to 14 times per week, in the following weeks.
APM Terminals gain advantages from Venlo, a key logistics hub, following a gravity analysis involving key customers. Specifically, the gravity analysis simplifies the paths a cargo takes through a terminal, while also improves the logistics chain’s efficiency.
Moreover, according to APM the new rail service is available to all deep-sea carriers.
The new rail service came into operation as a pilot at the end of 2018, providing three services per week. Today, APM Terminals Maasvlakte II has already scheduled to provide eight departures per week, starting from July, and up to 14 departures per week, a bit later, concerning the customers’ demand.
Moreover, this rail service is ideal of each kind of containerised cargo, except of IMO classifications 1 and 7.
Discharging and loading is carried out between 18:30-01.00 at the terminal, with discharging and loading taking place between 07.30-11:00 at the Cabooter Blerick Inland Terminal, Venlo.
Roy De Haan, Head of Commercial Management at Maasvlakte II stated
The terminal is equipped with a fully automated 500m barge berth, offering a reliable and efficient connection between Rotterdam and Venlo. However, with transport times of between six and seven days by barge, the new overnight rail service is very appealing to customers in industries such as fast fashion, where speed to market is an essential competitive advantage.
In addition, the rail service has the capacity of 96 TEU, which is equal to 48 trucks on the road. In the meantime, it runs on electricity from renewable sources.
Also, another advantage is that the new rail service provides speed and convenience, as it is quipped with direct load and discharge windows at both terminals.
Roy de Haan added
As the rail operator, APM Terminals also has direct influence on both terminals (Maasvlakte II and Cabooter Berick), which enables the company to provide priority loading/discharge for urgent containers. The direct point-to-point service also offers increased reliability as there are no terminal stops that could bring potential delays.