Metrans strengthens its position on the New Silk Road
After the acquisition of CL Europort METRANS is willing to prove as high-quality operator for our clients on the New Silk Road, where reloading terminals plays important role. Martin Koubek, Director – Silk Road & CIS METRANS a.s is talking about plans in the new location.
What does it mean for METRANS to take over of CL Europort? What is the impact on business on Polish market and New Silk Road?
METRANS is willing to prove as high-quality operator for our clients on the New Silk Road, where reloading terminals plays important role. The plan is to connect the terminal to METRANS network on regular basis, not only in Poland, but also to the rest of the network in the CEE region. This brings the clients on the New Silk Road higher quality for their cargo.
What are METRANS investment plans in Europort?
METRANS is continuously investing in the terminals, most recently, as mentioned above, in the extension of the depot yard in Gadki. The same will go for CL EUROPORT. From the very beginning we are investing in the IT system and believe to implement METRANS IT System in the next weeks, which should bring higher efficiency at the terminal.
How is developing “carbon neutral transportation” product? Can Polish customer order such a transport and be granted certificates?
Carbon neutral transportation between all Polish terminal destinations, Hamburg and Bremerhaven, but Koper as well are already offered by METRANS under the product name HHLA Pure – authorized by TÜV Nord. If we go the long distance with electric powered locomotives and we use only green energy in Germany the compensation of the produced CO2 is still very low. Customers can get certificates from us for their environmentally reports, also for their clients, the shippers, if requested. We still hope that with the increased environmental awareness the HHLA Pure product will gain wider acceptance and become a new standard for the industry. We are ready to offer neutral transportation solution to all our customers.
How does METRANS see the rail transport sustainability?
The role of rail transport and its competitive ability with trucking has never been easy. The investment in building and repairing rail infrastructure is astronomical and usually cannot be done without subsidies and reflecting these costs in transport prices. In addition, Poland has a very good highway network and the cheapest carriers in the entire EU. This makes the emphasis on 100% reliability, adherence to timetables and spare capacity, especially for multi-volume transport. Despite all this, we are convinced that rail transport has its place and a great future here too. The advantage is not only the higher reliability regardless of the weather, regular timetables, etc., but also the facilities of container terminals, which provide the possibility of customs clearance, intermediate storage, more space for precise planning of deliveries to the final recipient or switching to another train in case of sudden changes in the layout. It is the Covid period that has shown us the strength, capability and flexibility of our existing METRANS rail network and we are confident that our customers are also fully aware of it.
What destinations in the intermodal transportation will be developing the best in Gadki and in other METRANS HUB terminals in Poland and Central Europe as a whole?
Each destination / HUB / product has its own specifics that must be approached individually. They are never driven by just one point of view or just one customer. The overall usage, connectivity and functionality within the METRANS network is always taken into account. We do not implement them as partial customer and market requirements, but always look for and offer system solutions that are applicable in a longer-term context.
Our continuous key goal of the development is the – further – connectivity of METRANS terminals in Poland to the existing METRANS rail network, i.e. direct regular train connections between Poland and Czech Republic with subsequent access to Slovakia / Austria / Hungary / Slovenia / Romania. This is our contribution to the “from road to rail”, but also bring more optimalization in to the system. We believe that only extended, well positioned and fully working network can help to popularize intermodal transportation and move it to the next dimension => mass usage.