Environment and climate

Traffic development 2018

Chiasso, 4.2.2019    Last year, the Hupac Group carried around 926,000 road consignments by rail, thus increasing its volume by 21.4%. This strong growth is partly attributable to one-off effects such as the recovery of traffic losses due to the Rhine disruption in 2017 and the acquisition of ERS Railways in June 2018.

In 2018 the Swiss intermodal transport operator Hupac achieved a traffic growth of 21.4%. In total, the Group carried 926,414 road consignments or 1,720,000 TEUs, corresponding to 163,000 road consignments more than in the previous year.

Non-transalpine traffic showed the most dynamic development with an increase of just under 38%. The increase of 98,000 road consignments compared to the previous year is almost exclusively attributable to the volume of the operator ERS Railways, which was integrated into the Hupac Group in June 2018 and contributed to the overall result with about 92,000 road consignments. ERS Railways, with its operational headquarters in Hamburg, specializes in maritime hinterland services and thus complements the portfolio of Hupac with its traditional focus on continental traffic. ERS offers connections between the North Sea ports and numerous destinations in Germany as well as supplementary services such as port connection traffic, local delivery and customs procedures. The expansion of the network to the western ports by exploiting synergies with Hupac Intermodal is in the development phase. "We have achieved important successes with ERS Railways; the entire Hupac Group benefits from this", comments Bernhard Kunz, CEO of the Hupac Group.

Transalpine traffic through Switzerland also developed positively. Compared to the previous year, Hupac Intermodal was able to shift 67,000 additional road consignments to eco-friendly railways, which corresponds to an increase of 14.4%. Almost half of this is attributable to the recovery of volume losses due to the seven-week blockade of the Rhine valley route in August/September 2017. Revised the Rastatt effect, traffic volumes in transalpine traffic through Switzerland increased by about 8%. Growth was again driven by the semi-trailer segment. These services are currently routed via the Simplon axis to the Novara terminal. The opening of the 4-metre corridor via the Gotthard Base Tunnel and the connection of the Busto Arsizio-Gallarate terminal at the end of 2020 will create new opportunities for modal shift.

In 2019 Hupac expects transport demand to stabilise as a result of the economic downturn. "Now is the time to focus on the quality of the services," emphasises Michail Stahlhut, director of Hupac Intermodal. "We must ensure a stable environment on which new growth can be built."