JOC Staff | Feb 04, 2013 1:12PM EST
Germany’s Kombiverkehr forecast a return to growth in 2013 with a “significant” increase in shipments after Europe’s biggest intermodal transport company saw volume decline in 2012.
“We anticipate that our shipping volumes will perform better than the economy as a whole ... partly due to the ongoing demand from customers for new train services and additional capacity,” said managing director Robert Breuhahn.
“It’s also because we started several new trains and took on additional routes back in the second half of 2012, and these should begin to be reflected in full in volume trends in 2013.”
There was a 4.7 percent decrease in the number of containers, swap bodies and semi-trailers transported in 2012 to 927,200 truck loads, equivalent to 1.85 million 20-foot equivalent units.
International traffic shrunk 5 percent to 707,500 consignments while volume on domestic German routes dipped 3.7 percent to 219,700 truckloads.
Frankfurt-based Kombiverkehr blamed the decline after two years of consecutive growth on a weak European economy, particularly in the second half of the year, and the closure of the Bremmer Pass highway between Austria and Italy and closure of the Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland which hit its key trans-Alpine services.
Kombiverkehr, owned by 230 German and international freight forwarders and transport companies, operates over 170 direct and shuttle trains services with 15,000 connections.
