Rail News

The sudden closure of the Rhine Valley Alpine rail track in southwest Germany could not have come at a worse time for Europe’s rail freight industry.

Shippers will greet news that the key European rail corridor will open five days early with some relief, but they will still have to struggle for alternatives until early October.

The China-Europe rail route is gaining in popularity among shippers, but even with its rapid growth, the weekly capacity overland is just 2 percent of that offered by ocean.

Primary rail providers have said they are metering cargo even for routes that are operating normally.

Motor carriers and their shipper customers have been footing the bill.

“Today only between 2 and 3 percent of throughput at the port of Santos goes via rail.”

With energy prices low and the dollar high, total intermodal volumes improved 4.5 percent in the second quarter.

Ports from Miami to Charleston now lie in the Category 5 storm’s projected path.

Shortline, port operators are owned by the same investment group.

The US Coast Guard on Tuesday reopened the Sabine-Neches Waterway.

Terms of the 50-50 joint venture were not disclosed.

Rail traffic between Italy and Germany is expected to rise sharply in September, which is not good news with the crucial Alpine route shut down until Oct. 7.

Truck-to-rail freight conversion critical to easing terminal congestion is steadily picking up momentum at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

The reopening of terminals, repairs to rail lines, and moves toward more normal vessel operations are important steps in untangling supply chains twisted by Hurricane Harvey.

Hub Group has launched a new cargo tracking tool.

The effects of a weak start to the year for Kerry Logistics were reversed by a strong second quarter and the Hong Kong-based company is expecting a positive full-year result.

VTG, one of the leading European railcar leasing and rail logistics groups, posted improved second-quarter results.

Truck, rail, water, and air transport are shut down.

Backup routes used to get around the shut down Rhine Valley rail link are proving costly for shippers.

The two month shutdown of a key rail corridor in Northern Europe is adding almost one-third to the transportation costs from the Mediterranean to Germany.

Since March, parcel giant UPS has shifted at least some of its cargo from CSX to NS.

US and Mexican Customs officials at a KCS-built facility will work to speed growing cross-border rail traffic at Laredo.

The issue threatens the hard-won gains from a government initiative to lower logistics costs for domestic shippers.

Diversion routes in Germany are also out of service because of engineering work, threatening further delays at Europe’s top container port.

The dispute focuses on efforts to modernize the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The new seven-day-a-week service was announced on Aug. 14 after a trial period with Hapag-Lloyd.

The new terminal, pulling in grain carloads from the western Canadian provinces and the US Midwest, will help alleviate equipment shortages for North American outbound moves.

The growing popularity of shipping containers by rail from China to Europe is leading to delays as increasing cargo volume begins to overpower European terminals.

Concor’s net profit during jumped 36.4 percent year over year.

By volume, JNPT handled 61,383 TEU during the month via rail.

More than 80 percent of CSX shippers surveyed have experienced problems with the railroad’s service.

The Bangladesh government is welcoming private sector investments in inland container terminals.

“The restriction on loading of trains to Mundra Port has been lifted.”

Chicago-area draymen are charging shippers surcharges of $75 and even double that.

Port CEO Brandy Christian called the agreement a “win-win”.

Shippers are shouldering the cost of a sudden and often unexplained increase in unpaid tolls racked up by independent drayage drivers.

The disruption at Mundra is the latest weather-related complication for Indian shippers.

J.B. Hunt’s first acquisition in recent memory is neither in the first nor final-mile logistics space.

Starting Aug. 1, three time-definite train runs a week will be introduced linking inland locations to Mundra and Pipavav.