Hannibal, the Contship group's multimodal transport operator (MTO), has announced an increase in its weekly rail services in response to the increase in demand for domestic rail services in recent weeks. Starting in July, there will be 12 additional weekly round trips, an increase of 50%, linking the La Spezia Container Terminal (La Spezia) with the Group's inland terminals in Melzo (Rail Hub Milano), Marzaglia and Padua.
This decision is in response to the forecast reduction in the operating capacity of some hubs in the Liguria region, where the summer will see the start of major infrastructure works on the rail network, particularly at the Genoa hub. Furthermore, the increase in services is intended better to absorb irregularities and delays in the arrival of vessels and to anticipate the consequences of congestion in the main Asian transhipment ports - a phenomenon observed in recent months, particularly following the unrest that began in the Red Sea - and thus to guarantee more efficient management of the import/export volumes of customers.
The infrastructure system of the Port of La Spezia, which also includes the hinterland of Santo Stefano Magra, consists of 17 km of railway tracks, 3 railway yards for train composition/attestation and forwarding, and 5 junctions. Intermodal transport today represents more than 30% of the total demand for container traffic in the port of La Spezia, to increase the rail share to 50% in the medium term thanks to the Ravano terminal expansion project.
"Today we are focusing on the La Spezia terminal, which has historically decided to invest in rail intermodality, making a modal solution feasible that allows goods to be moved quickly and at a competitive cost. This is also possible thanks to the strategic location of our terminal which, being positioned along the Tyrrhenian-Brenner axis - part of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean European corridor - is equipped with direct motorway but above all rail connections," said Cristiano Pieragnolo, Chief Commercial Officer of Contship.
