Develop more interaction between the rail transport and that maritime, to the advantage of a chain logistics ever more efficient and sustainable. It's the goal behind signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which took place in Ginestra, Switzerland, between the managing director of the F groups Italian, Luigi Ferraris and the CEO of Mercitalia Logistics, Gianpiero Strisciuglio, while for the Group MSc – shipping company, dedicated to the cruise market, which was running with Lufthansa to acquire Ita Airways – the group chairman was present Gianluigi Aponte e Joseph Prudent, chief logistics officer of MSC and president of Medlog.
FS Group and MSC: towards a commercial partnership
In detail, the MoU is a document of understanding which will first of all serve to verify the possibility and the mutual interest in carrying out a commercial and operational partnership project aimed at the development of combined maritime transport. To make it operational will then be subsequent and specific agreements and the contribution of the companies Logistics hub of Fs – starting with Mercitalia Logistics – and those of MSC – including Medway e Agreed, which respectively deal with rail transport, and with road haulage, intermodality and logistics.
“This signing with an international partner like MSC – comments Strisciuglio – reinforces the strategy of the FS Group Logistics Hub as a system operator, consolidating its presence along the logistics value chain and placing at the centre, over distances of more than 300/400 km, rail transport. In fact, it is an objective of the FS Industrial Plan – concludes Strisciuglio – to double the current share of goods transported by train in a decade, also thanks to increasingly effective connections of our ports and terminals to the national network and European railway corridors”.
Upcoming synergies: terminal, train network and rail services
This cooperation has already taken its first steps with the start of a collaboration in recent weeks port terminal of Gioia Tauro on shunting services and in rail transport between Gioia Tauro itself and the interport of Padua. The next synergies, however, will be developed in the management of the terminals, the network of trains and railway services operating both in the Italian and European markets. "This partnership - adds Prudente - is part of a long-standing collaboration with the FS group, which plays a very important role in the development of our business, both for port and in-land terminals and for experimenting with new corridors".
