- The three new partners support the initiative in its quest to make railways more visible and to achieve a more environmentally friendly logistics chain.
- The next stop of this itinerant initiative will be Algeciras on 5 and 6 May, where it will be hosted by the three new partners, as well as Transfesa Logistics, MAFEX and Stadler.
The “Freight belongs on rail” initiative continues to add new partners in the third year since it began its journey on the Iberian Peninsula. The latest partners to join are Marcotran, Traccion Rail and the Port of Algeciras Bay, which have decided to join this initiative with the aim of supporting the transformation of the transport sector and moving towards sustainable mobility.
For César Domínguez, manager of Traccion Rail and director of Railway Works at Azvi, “Traccion Rail is the materialisation of Grupo Azvi’s commitment to rail freight transport. A commitment that is the result of the group’s diversification, but which does not leave behind its close and historical link to the railway: a sustainable and safe means of transport, which contributes greatly to the reduction of CO2 emissions, and whose use as a means of freight transport should be encouraged. This is a sector in which Traccion Rail has been consolidating and in which it has grown continuously, especially in recent years, during which it has increased its production capacity, its fleet and its workforce”.
Marta López, Corporate Commercial Director of Marcotran, an international transport and logistics operator with a large fleet of its own vehicles, highlights: “We are delighted with the idea of joining this #MercancíasalTren initiative because as a company committed to sustainability we offer intermodal alternatives that help our customers to align with their environmental policies by reducing their carbon footprint throughout the chain. A clear example of this is that Marcotran has been a pioneer in the implementation of the two weekly rotations of the rail service between Zaragoza and Algeciras, which has been very well received by customers as it manages to reduce 85% of CO2 emissions compared to conventional rolling traffic”.
For his part, the president of the Port Authority of Algeciras, Gerardo Landaluce, has insisted on the importance of initiatives such as “Freight belongs on rail” to make visible, to the general public, and to the competent administrations, the importance of rail transport in obtaining a supply chain, competitive, more efficient and sustainable, where a significant reduction in external costs and CO2 emissions is achieved, and which is capable of providing a solution to many of the problems that the logistics sector is facing, including the lack of drivers and the need to improve the working conditions of existing drivers.
In the specific case of Algeciras, Landaluce has highlighted that last year a new record has been set in terms of TEUs moved by rail (57. 345 TEUs), but this growth is limited by the conditions of the existing railway infrastructure to our Port and that connects with the peninsular interior, and that, although steps are being taken, the Central Branch common to the Mediterranean and Atlantic corridors, and therefore double priority for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), still has unelectrified sections, on single track and with the need for sidings for 740 m convoys. “Investments in the corridor must go much faster and make up for the time lost in the environmental processing of the electrification of the Algeciras-Bobadilla, if we want the Railway Motorway with Zaragoza, which so many large companies are demanding, to start operating next year as announced at the time by the Mitma”.
With these 3 new additions, “Freight belongs on rail” is reinforced in its quest to give greater prominence to the train and thus achieve a more environmentally friendly logistics chain. The initiative aims to raise awareness among public institutions, the business sector and society in general of the importance of transferring a significant part of freight transport to rail, thus reducing emissions in a sector that is responsible for around 27% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Spain.
Freight belongs on rail will visit Algeciras
The next destination will be Algeciras where the green container, the icon of this sustainability initiative, will be on 5 and 6 May at the Central Access of the Port of Algeciras. It can be visited both inside and out, where it houses an exhibition that explains, with posters and audiovisual content, why it is essential to move cargo by train to combat climate change.