Moselle Express: a ‘greener’ route to Trier

New service

At the time there was no rail shuttle along this route. But then Yusen Logistics got in touch with Johan Pijpers (who worked for NYK Line at the time) and the German firm Am Zehnhoff-Söns, who were just in the process of jointly developing the plans. Johan Pijpers, who currently works as Manager Inland Operations Procurement for Ocean Network Express (ONE), already had two major clients in the Trier region. This meant that the Moselle Express had a solid business case. And Yusen Logistics was welcome to join in. “The entire operational process and delivery reliability for the client have improved thanks to this rail shuttle,” says Pijpers. ONE also uses rail transport for industrial products for the automotive sector, as well as (non-hazardous) chemicals.

Inland terminal

Yusen Logistics’ cargo tends to arrive in the port of Rotterdam on a weekday. On Sunday, around 40 containers are loaded onto the Moselle Express. This rail shuttle arrives in the German university town the next day, and by Tuesday, Yusen Logistics has delivered the products to its client on location. “Your planning always has to offer a bit more leeway with intermodal transport. This approach is less suited to perishables, for example, and we still turn to road transport when the client wants a shipment first thing tomorrow. But in most cases, there’s not that much pressure of time with the products we transport – making the Moselle Express an excellent option.”

Delivered within the half hour

A key reason for ONE to use the Moselle Express is the depot in Trier. Large numbers of containers can be parked here – in a very cost-efficient arrangement. “The containers are very close to their final destination: our client is located only 7 km away. In the past, the required containers needed to be forwarded from Rotterdam and you had to take heavy traffic into account,” explains Pijpers (ONE). “Now, the containers are cleared in Trier and whenever the client calls them up, we can actually deliver them within the half hour.” The depot also enables Yusen Logistics to shorten its delivery times to Luxemburg. “Working from Trier makes us a lot more flexible. We’re so close that we can make cargo available to the client a lot sooner,” says Braemer.

Green transport

The most important advantage of freight transport by train is, of course, the reduced CO 2 emissions. ‘The best thing is that we don’t need to deploy so many trucks. For us, this green argument is the most important reason for using the Moselle Express,’ stated Braemer. ONE clients are also looking more carefully at their carbon footprint. Pijpers explained: ‘Transporting containers by rail enables us to reduce CO 2 emissions when the containers are full, but we also have fewer empty miles as we don’t need to return the containers empty.’ That is the third advantage of the Moselle Express: containers can be stored in the depot in Trier and reused for export. These are sometimes returned full to Rotterdam by train or sometimes travel by inland vessel to Bonn. ‘We have a lot of export cargo there that also returns to Rotterdam by inland vessel,’ explained Pijpers.

Both ONE and Yusen Logistics have used the Moselle Express almost weekly since the start of 2017. The train can transport 100 TEU per journey. The Moselle Express leaves Trier for Rotterdam every Tuesday and Friday. The train returns from Rotterdam to Trier on Sundays and Wednesdays.