Kicking off 2024 with a significant expansion of its combined road-rail services at the Domodossola terminal, which after years of neglect is becoming a crucial junction between Italy and Northern Europe, CargoBeamer introduces a national rail connection to the Bari Ferruccio station. This move enhances the intermodality within national borders. The connection is also vital as the Domodossola terminal can handle loading and unloading of non-craneable semi-trailers. However, the trains will also accommodate craneable semi-trailers, containers, and swap bodies, including those with non-hazardous waste loads.
The Domodossola-Bari service will commence on February 19 with three weekly trips: north to south departures on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday, and the reverse on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sangritana will provide rail traction. From Bari, units can continue by sea to Greece, Albania, and Turkey. CargoBeamer has entered into a commercial partnership with Grimaldi Lines for a single booking of the entire route connecting Patras to Kaldenkirchen, Germany.
Another early 2024 update concerns the German terminal: from February 5, the service to Domodossola increased with three weekly departures, offering twenty departures per week in each direction. With the new schedule, CargoBeamer offers up to four daily departures in each direction between Germany/Benelux and Italy. From Kaldenkirchen, units can continue to Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, and Calais, creating a long intermodal corridor stretching from Turkey to Northern Europe.
CargoBeamer's Chief Operating Officer, Boris Timm, stated that this year the company would strengthen its service portfolio along the trans-Alpine corridor: "The increase to twenty weekly rotations demonstrates that our Kaldenkirchen-Domodossola route is already among the most successful in European combined transport. Moreover, by adding the antenna for/from Bari as a link from both Kaldenkirchen and Domodossola, we are increasing our services in Italy and expanding into the Mediterranean markets. The Bari route will make CargoBeamer's services available to several new transport operators in Southern Europe, diversify our customer portfolio, and allow non-craneable semi-trailers to travel unaccompanied between the Mediterranean and the Ruhr (Germany) and Benelux regions, saving about two tons of CO2 per trip compared to the same road route."
