Port of Antwerp-Bruges — 2024-11-19
Members Corner
First positive results of rail bundling visible
A year ago, Railport and Port of Antwerp-Bruges announced the start of a more sustainable and efficient operational model for Single Wagon Load in the port area in Antwerp. Since 1 January 2024, all freight payers can use it. Time for an evaluation and an update.
Rail bundling
The aim of Railport and Port of Antwerp-Bruges is to ensure better quality of rail transport. The rail vision that was drawn up together with Infrabel contains a number of measures that contribute to this. Bundling of the traffic of individual wagons (Single Wagon Load) in the port area is one of them. Bundling means that Railport organises a “group purchase” for transport within the port, the so-called first/last mile. The participating companies can then have wagons picked up and taken to a marshalling yard at the fixed price, or have them delivered to them from a marshalling yard.
Beneficial effects
After ten months of bundling, it is clear that the participating freight payers can enjoy an improvement in the quality of rail transport in the port area. For many of them, the price for this part of the transport is also lower than what they paid before.
For the terminals, the bundling provides significant simplification: they now have a single point of contact for all rail transport between the terminal and the marshalling yard.
Next steps
Transparency is the next big step. It is important for both customers and rail companies that they get a better view of “their” wagons, both in the marshalling yard and during transport in the port area. This digitalization project is currently being worked on hard.
This requires the cooperation of every link in the chain. When freight payers share their freight data with Railport, the system knows where their wagons are and where they need to go. This allows the transport to be coordinated with the unloading and/or loading facilities.
In addition, this information is also necessary for the optimization and safety of rail traffic in the port.
Nils van Vliet, CEO Railport: “Bundling the first/last mile already has positive effects. We call on all parties involved to also make a success of digitalisation so that we can offer all companies correct real-time information about their transports.”
Investments in rail
In the coming years, a number of major investments in the rail infrastructure in the port area are planned: doubling and electrification of line 11, Oorderen bundle, rail works in function of the second tidal dock on the Left Bank, etc. The more transports are bundled, the easier it will be to have them run efficiently during the works.
Long haul
Finally, it should be noted that the price advantage of participating in the bundling is relatively limited given the short distances in the port area. Transport outside the port area covers much longer distances and there, good comparison can potentially yield much greater advantages for the freight payers.