A Dutch rail operator has instituted a new daily freight container service between Rotterdam and the Rhine terminal of Germersheim. The service area  may expand to include the areas of Germersheim, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Strasbourg and Ludwigshafen, and possibly as far as  Alsace and Lorraine in France.

As shipments of bulk goods decrease, the port of Nantes in France is expanding its capacity for container freight. The port is planning to extend quaysides at its Montoir container terminal by 350 metres to 600 metres so it can accommodate bigger containerships of 6,000-8,000teu. Their objective over the next 10-15 years is to raise annual [...]

Rail freight services in France could be badly disrupted by modernisation on the rail network in 2012.  The French government has a 13bn euro plan to renovate the railways by 2016, and work will be done at around 1 000 locations.

China is now the top export destination for the Bordeaux region of France, and wealthy Chinese are increasingly investing in wine. Perhaps more surprising is the growing fashion for Beaujolais Nouveau, and Chinese are buying this wine in bulk as it reflects their taste for novelty and fashion.  It is particularly popular amongst young people. [...]

A new Motorway of the Sea is being proposed by the port of Sete in France, linking with Southern Spain and Morocco. They will apply for funding under the EU Marco Polo 2 programme, which finances projects that shift freight from roads to sea, rail and inland waterways. A spokesman for the port said that there [...]

A new system which will lift unaccompanied trailers onto trains is set to revolutionise freight between Western and Eastern Europe.  The system which has been developed in Germany will be marketed to the UK logistics industry, with the aim of quickly transferring loads between the different gauges of track used in different parts of Europe. [...]

Truck drivers in France ar protesting about increasing freedom in the European haulage market. Since 1 January hauliers from Bulgaria and Romania have joined those from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and the three Baltic states who have the right to carry out up to three domestic transport operations in fellow member states over [...]

in 2009 the French government announced plans to promote sustainable freight transport.  Contributing towards this goal are ‘train motorways’ which can take longer trains at higher speeds. This helps to achieve the goal of more freight miles for less carbon.  The first 850 metre long train travelled last week between Perpignan, near the Spanish border, and [...]

Next year France’s railway network will be modernised at around 1000 locations, as part of a plan to renovate the whole rail structure by 2016. Most of the modernisation work will take place at night, so the impact on rail freight is likely to far greater than on passenger services. The network management company indicated last month [...]

A security fee on rail freight traffic through the Channel tunnel is planned for next year by France’s rail network manager. The fee, which could be as much as 600 euros per train, is to cover safety provision for trains making an obligatory stop to change locomotives in a transit zone near the French entrance to [...]

The Office for National Statistics has published figures showing that exports from the UK increased in August, compared with July.  The trade deficit narrowed more than expected with exports rising and imports falling slightly. The reduction in imports was inevitable with domestic demand falling and retail confidence low, and this is good news for the [...]

From September onwards,  the existing rail freight service between Rotterdam and Antwerp will also call at the Rail Service Center in Rotterdam. This creates direct access to the rail freight network in South and South-East Europe. This will help to meet the growing demand for intra-European (‘continental’) rail transport. The existing connection, with three departures [...]

Intermodal barges services are being developed for shipping containers in the Nord-Pas de Calais in France and the Wallonia region in Belgium. It is planned that new multimodal terminals for freight will be developed along the future broad gauge Seine-Nord Europe canal.  The canal will link the Seine basin, including Paris, to Belgium. An agreement [...]

Two major charities have published a joint report which claims that international shipping accounts for 3% of global emissions and that shipping companies should therefore pay a carbon tax of $25 per tonne.  Oxfam and the World Wide Fund for Nature argue that this would only cost the industry around 0.2% of the total value [...]

The Paris Council is intending to impose restrictions on car-carrying road trailers, with a view to banning them completely by 2016. In response to this policy, the Compagnie Fluviale de Transport of France has announced a new barge service on the Seine for the delivery of new vehicles to car dealerships and car rental firms. [...]

The Spanish exporters association, FEPEX has said that it will retaliate against French threats to once more disrupt imports of fresh fruit. Farmers in France have been intercepting freight trucks from Spain at the border tolls, and in some cases throwing the fresh produce on the roads. The Catalonia and Tarragon branches of Spanish farmers’ [...]

Food exports from Scotland passed £1bn last year according to figures from HM Revenue and Customs.  Sales of salmon and potatoes were particularly strong, while nearly two thirds of food sales came from fish and shellfish, which increased by 12% in the year.  Exports were helped by a fall in the value of sterling. The [...]

Fruit and vegetable growers in France are disrupting the supply chain on a regular basis in order to protest against cheap imports from Spain and Italy. The main corridor for road traffic from Spain, the A9, was blocked earlier this week when growers from the Gard and Pyrenees Orientales blocked traffic at the Gallargues toll [...]

September will see the official launch of what will be one of the largest logistics hubs in Europe. The hub will be developed in the Turqurie industrial zone, which runs between the port of Calais and the Channel Tunnel along the Calais to Dunkirk railway line. It is hoped that the project will attract up [...]