People at the core

Chiasso/ Clichy, 4.4.2012   Hupac, a Swiss intermodal transport operator, and SNCF Geodis, the fourth-largest global transport and logistics operator, are joining forces to expand their combined transport networks on the east-west European route via France and Belgium.

The agreement will strengthen the two partners’ cooperation and create synergies that will expand combined transport across Europe, in particular on the east-west route.

Starting in April 2012, HUPAC and SNCF Geodis will combine their networks via the Anvers-Dourges line, run by SNCF Geodis. The route will link Hupac’s European network with the French domestic combined transport routes operated by SNCF Geodis. Customers will have access to a vast network of combined rail transport linking the Iberian Peninsula to the far east with daily or weekly connections to eastern Germany (Schwarzheide), eastern Europe (Poland and Russia) and China. For example, the operators will offer daily departures between Poland (Warsaw) and Lyon that take five days. In Hupac’s shuttle network, Antwerp and Ludwigshafen are the platforms for intermodal links with Eastern Europe, Poland and Russia and as far as China. The new products will be marketed jointly by the two partners.

SNCF Geodis already runs the daily trains operated by Hupac between Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide. SNCF Geodis will soon operate rail haulage activities on this same corridor. Cooperation between Hupac and the SNCF group began in 2007 with the launch of a jointly run train between Antwerp and Perpignan, which has now been extended to Barcelona.

“With SNCF Geodis we are developing the potential of combined transport across the whole continent of Europe, including the connections to and from Barcelona on the new UIC line and the establishment of links between France and Italy via Modane”, states Bernhard Kunz, Managing Director of Hupac.

According to Pierre Blayau, CEO of SNCF Geodis, “this strategic agreement is a decisive step towards achieving our commitment to expanding rail goods transport in Europe. I am delighted with this partnership, which confirms our ambition for combined transport.”