Samskip, duisport and TX Logistik AG will jointly operate the CT terminal at logport III in Duisburg-Hohenbudberg in the future. For this purpose, the three partners have founded the new company “Ziel Terminal GmbH”. Samskip will hold 49.8 percent of the shares, duisport and TX Logistik each will hold 25.1 percent respectively. The terminal will be leased on a long-term basis by duisport to the joint venture.

The terminal partnership signed by the three owners is currently still subject to approval by the European competition authorities. Approval is expected in the next few weeks. “TX Logistik is on course for growth. In order to continue this development and to be able to shift even more transports to rail in the future, the company needs terminal capacities that it can safely fall back on,“ Gianpiero Strisciuglio, CEO Mercitalia Logistics, explains the decision. Currently TX Logistik, which is responsible for international rail freight transport within the Mercitalia Group (Gruppo FS Italiane), already operates two round trips per week between Duisburg and Katrineholm in Sweden for Samskip.  The Duisburg terminal is located in a strategic geographical position, in the heart of Germany, in an important industrial zone, along the main trade interchange axis of Europe,” says Gianpiero Strisciuglio. “Being part of the shareholding structure that will manage it means guaranteeing customers an expansion of geographic targets, improved service quality, synchronization of traction and access slots to terminal areas, and greater transport efficiency, all activities preparatory to a door-to-door service.”

“The long-term partnership not only strengthens our location, but also paves the way for sustainable growth and the expansion of our business model. By jointly exploiting the potential of the three strong players duisport, Samskip, and TX Logistik, we can continuously develop the terminal and be successful together. This will create additional handling capacities at the Duisburg location,” says duisport CEO Markus Bangen.

Samskip CEO Kari-Pekka Laaksonen:“We are delighted with the idea of taking our long-standing partnership with TX Logistik and the Port of Duisburg to a new level. The decision is clearly a win-win-win scenario as the benefits for all parties is substantial. As Samskip is extremely committed to deliver its sustainability targets, this will also further cement the usage and the growth of rail modality in the location.”

The 140,000-square-meter terminal facility in Duisburg-Hohenbudberg has seven transshipment tracks, each 720 meters long, two shunting tracks and two high-performance gantry cranes for transshipment between road and rail. The annual handling capacity is up to 250,000 loading units.

In addition, terminal operations can rely on modern IT and communications technology such as a control tower system for the pre-planning of terminal activities and exception management. Other high standards include high-tech gate functions, OCR scanning for registration, security, order prioritization and truck parking allocation. In addition, various facilities are available, such as cross-docking or railcar repair. Gianpiero Strisciuglio: “This offers us opportunities to offer further services in the future – for example, a photo lock can be used to generate data on the condition of truck tarpaulins or tires, which can then be transmitted to customers in terms of preventive maintenance management.” To enter the shareholding structure of the terminal in Duisburg is in line with the provisions of the Fs Italiane Group’s Business Plan, presented by CEO Luigi Ferraris last May, Mercitalia Logistics envisages investments of 2.9 billion over the next ten years to foster a major operational and commercial development of the sustainable logistics asset around rail freight traffic both in Italy and Europe.