CargoBeamer Opens First Own Terminal in Calais

The Leipzig logistics service provider CargoBeamer has launched its first own terminal on Saturday. The company is using its patented horizontal transshipment technology for semi-trailers from trucks to rail for the first time in the freely accessible market. There will be four round trips per week between Calais and Perpignan in southern France, with at least one more destination to be added by the end of the year.

(Leipzig/Calais) The transshipment facility located close to the port of Calais and the influential Eurotunnel connection to Great Britain is expected to develop into an important hub for the company’s international transport flows in the medium term. The domestic French route to Perpignan near the French-Spanish border will enable traffic to the Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula. After a one-week startup phase with two round trips, the route will be permanently served with four weekly round trips starting from July 17. Euro Cargo Rail (ECR), a French subsidiary of DB Cargo, has been secured as the traction partner. The trains have a total of 36 trailer spaces, consisting of 24 special CargoBeamer wagons and six conventional double-pocket wagons. In the medium term, transports towards Central and Eastern Europe will also be served. Therefore, starting from the fourth quarter of 2021, the line between Calais and Domodossola in Northern Italy will be offered, where CargoBeamer has been active since 2015.

Transshipment of up to twelve train pairs per day

The terminal facility in Calais initially allows for the transshipment of six train pairs, meaning six incoming and six outgoing freight trains per day. This enables a total of 432 semi-trailers to be processed daily. In a second expansion phase planned for 2023, the terminal can be expanded to a capacity of twelve train pairs per day. The pure transshipment process, including complete loading and unloading of an entire train, takes about 20 minutes. In the construction of the facility over the past eleven months, CargoBeamer collaborated with the French construction and concession company Eiffage. Additionally, the construction project received financial support from the European Union under the Connecting Europe Facility (“CEF”), the French state, and the Hauts-de-France region.

Milestone and Quantum Leap

“The opening of our first terminal is an extremely important milestone and a real quantum leap for the development of our company. Here in Calais, we can fully deploy our technology in the market for the first time and further strengthen the shift of traffic to environmentally friendly rail. Therefore, we would like to thank all partners, supporters, and investors for their trust in us and the excellent cooperation,” explains Hans-Jürgen Weidemann, CEO and founder of CargoBeamer. “We see the location as the start of a Europe-wide network of intermodal terminals and routes, with Calais being an important cornerstone. From here, we want to create connections by rail to Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe. At the same time, the location offers enormous potential regarding maritime goods flows and transport chains through the Eurotunnel to Great Britain. We will continue to expand the rail network in the coming years to shift more freight traffic from congested roads to environmentally friendly rail.”
Photo: © CargoBeamer