The German rail freight hauliers have built a coalition with over 230 forwarders to shift more cargo from roads to railways, with the aim of saving the environment some 50mt of CO2 emissions by 2030.
To that end, Kombiverkehr and DB Cargo have tabled a plan according to which domestic German as well as international rail cargo traffic that goes through the country will become faster as well as easier to buy into and manage.
As such, the two plan to expand their networks, engage in joint terminal activities, and digitalise their processes.
Among many, first/last mile truck deliveries will be handled in a one-stop-shop manner with contactless truck gate handling; terminal freight handling operations, like crane movements, are to be increasingly automated; and the exchange of information across the entire intermodal supply chain is to be simplified, including booking, billing, and track & trace.
According to the German Federal Statistical Office, intermodal now accounts for 36% of rail cargo traffic in the country. Kombiverkehr and DB Cargo say it has the potential to grow more than by 150% over the coming decade.
"The potential is enormous: we are saving the environment as much CO2 as if we took a whole coal-fired power station off the grid each year. That means Kombiverkehr is making a very important contribution to ensuring that we can keep our long-term European climate targets in the transport sector even beyond the corona crisis," Dr. Sigrid Nikutta, DB Board Member for Freight Transport, commented.
Photo: Kombiverkehr