- José Ignacio Landaluce Calleja, Mayor of Algeciras has been present at the presentation of Mercancías al tren, showing his support to the initiative.
- The Port of Algeciras is the host of an action which aims to bring companies, institutions and citizens closer to the role of the train in the future of sustainable freight transport on 5 and 6 May.
- The event is sponsored by Transfesa Logistics, Mafex, Marcotran, Puerto de Algeciras, Stadler and Traccion Rail.
- Institutions and companies have come together to support this European initiative that seeks to raise awareness of the need to create a supply chain free of CO2 emissions, where the railway is the central focus.
The Port of Algeciras has hosted this morning the official inauguration of ‘Freight belongs on rail’ in the city, a European itinerant initiative which, after passing through Valencia, Alicante, Barcelona, Logroño and Lisbon, arrives in Algeciras on 5 and 6 May.
The arrival of the container in this strategic place for goods has been made possible thanks to the impetus of Transfesa Logistics, Mafex, Marcotran, Port of Algeciras, Stadler and Traccion Rail.
The aim of this new stop is to raise awareness among public institutions, the business sector and society of the importance of shifting freight from road to rail in order to reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector.
The initiative brings back to the table the need to make society aware of the importance of reducing transport pollution, which is responsible for about 30% of total emissions in Europe. The initiative highlights the urgency of betting on intermodality and the transfer of freight to the railways, with the aim of freight to rail, with the aim of achieving the objectives set for 2030.
In this sense, the Director of the Transport Division of Transfesa Logistics, Samuel Nevado, reminded that transporting goods by rail reduces up to 80% of CO2, causes 85 times less human damage and consumes 6 times less energy. Moreover, he highlighted the importance of Algeciras, one of the main logistic hubs of the peninsula, hosting the initiative.
Moreover, he took the opportunity to remind that, despite the fact that Spain has set a more modest objective than Europe, reaching a modal share of 10% in 2030 is a very ambitious goal because it means more than doubling the current share, which has been stagnant since the liberalisation of the railway in 2005, at around 4%.
For his part, the president of the Port of Algeciras Bay, Gerardo Landaluce, has emphasised the bottleneck of Algeciras-Bobadilla and especially the electrification of the Ronda-Bobadilla section, which is currently under an informative study. Landaluce has announced that the Port has just presented “positive” allegations to the aforementioned informative study, the conclusions of which he hopes will make up for “lost time” in a section that is a double priority within the Trans-European Transport Network. In addition to the urgency of the improvement of the same to take part of the goods generated by the traffic of the Strait onto the train, the president of the port of Algeciras has highlighted that it is equally necessary for passengers.
In the words of the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Campo de Gibraltar, Carlos Fenoy Rico, who has shown his support for this initiative, “The need for this infrastructure and the demand from operators and companies is growing every day, aware of the importance of increasing this rail traffic and the opportunities for sustainable development that this would generate”.
He added that “We need a firm commitment to the completion of these works to help achieve what we are looking for and what we would consider a success: to increase rail traffic by up to 10% with a 2030 scenario, something that, however, would fall far short of Europe’s ambitious proposal to reach 30%. In addition to freight, we are also thinking about passengers. It is necessary to improve this track, which should be equipped with rolling stock in accordance with the 21st century”.
An exhibition open to the public
The container will be on display during the 5th and 6th of May from 10:00 in the morning until 20:00 in the Central Access Paco de Lucía of the Port of Algeciras Bay. During these two days, it will not only be possible to see a freight container at street level, out of its usual location, but also to access its interior, where there will be an exhibition open to the public and free of charge, where the advantages of transporting goods by rail will be shown through images and a video will be projected on the definitive role of the train to fight against climate change.
The green container will purify the air in Algeciras
The Freight belongs on rail container will not only carry sustainability on its exterior with its message, but it will also clean the air of the place where it is installed, in this case, Algeciras.
This decontamination is possible thanks to the fact that the container is covered with a type of intelligent paint that combines aesthetic and protective solutions and also forms a clear, thin, 40 nanometre mineral film that provides durability, cleanliness and air purification. It does this by means of photocatalysis, nature’s own principle for decontamination.