Hupac / Intermodal : 662.000 intermodal units on trains and news connections

By Mediarail.be - Signalling technician and railways observer

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01/02/2016

Hupac is a Swiss company based in Chiasso (IT), right on the border, which has thirteen companies domiciled in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Russia and employs approximately 400 people. The share capital amounts to CHF 20 million; 72% of this belongs to logistics and transport companies, while 28% is held by rail companies. Hupac operates a network of more than 100 trains each day between Europe’s main economic areas and between the harbours and the hinterlands. The company has no locomotives in own and must rely on third-party. Hupac owns its own terminals and operates the unaccompanied intermodal transport (trailers, swap bodies, containers – (see at this link) as well as the rolling highway (whole trucks on train– (see at this link)

Hupac is the owner of theirs terminals, here at Gallarate, near Milan (photo Hupac)

Traffic development
In the past year, the Swiss combined transport operator Hupac shipped approximately 662,000 road consignments by rail, representing a growth rate of 0.2% compared to the prior year. Once again, non-transalpine traffic was the growth driver with an increase of around 6%. The transalpine traffic through Switzerland declined slightly by 0.6%. A connection in the transalpine traffic via the Brenner Pass had to be discontinued, resulting in a decrease of just under 20%. Transports were affected by a significant number of strike days and disruptions caused by construction work and accidents and had a negative effect on the traffic development.

Shuttle Net with new connections 
At the beginning of the year, Hupac established a significant number of new connections. The Zeebrugge - Novara shuttle train operates with three round trips per week and is particularly attractive for the megatrailer market segment. The shuttle Venlo - Busto Arsizio with five departures per week connects the Limburg economic area in the Netherlands to the Hupac network for the first time. For the segment in southern Italy, the Busto - Bari shuttle was restructured in cooperation with the Italian operator Cemat to provide an even more attractive timetable to the customers. There is also important news to report from Poland. Since the beginning of the year, the Kutno terminal near Warsaw is the central hub of the east-west traffic. This is where the Hupac shuttle trains from Ludwigshafen, Schwarzheide and Antwerp arrive, in addition to the new shuttle train from Duisburg, which is operated jointly with PCC and Kombiverkehr. From there, the transports are shipped by a Hupac shuttle to Moscow, departing twice a week, and continue to Central Asia and the Far East. An additional connection between Schwarzheide and southern Poland was introduced in May of 2015.

Initial success with the Company Shuttle business unit
New connections were also implemented by the business unit Company Shuttle, which has recently opened up. This business unit offers tailor-made solutions according to the modular principle to customers with large shipping volumes. Customers who are willing to accept the utilization risk of the trains. A shuttle train operates between Rotterdam and Novara since the start of the year, offering four round trips each week. Another train runs daily between northern Italy and the Limburg economic area in the Netherlands. In mid-January the train between Copenhagen and the Ruhr region, which started up in the fall of 2015, was expanded by a connection to the Limburg area.

Outlook for 2016
For the current year, Hupac expects a stable demand. Elements of uncertainty are decreasing fuel prices, favoring road transports, and the euro/franc parity, which is a strain on the competitive ability of Swiss freight transports « We intend to strengthen our network in the western European core market, especially in view of the upcoming opening of the Gotthard base tunnel at the end of the year  » announced Hupac’s managing director Bernhard Kunz. The “world’s longest tunnel” is currently in test operation and will be available to the market in December 2016. « NEAT will improve the productivity and attractiveness of combined transports – a great opportunity for which we are systematically preparing ourselves  » according to Kunz. Other interesting markets are eastern and southeastern Europe as well as the Far East. This is where Hupac will strengthen its services to meet the growing demand.