Il FS group consolidates its presence in Europe to relaunch the system of intermodal logistics. Polo Logistica (FS Italiane Group), with its company TX Logistik, becomes part of the shareholding structure of the Duisburg, in Germany: the newborn company “Ziel Terminal GmbH” will see 49,8% of its shares held by the Dutch Samskip, the German company Duisport and TX Logistik of Ferrovie dello Stato will instead have 25,1% each.
In line with the provisions of the Industrial Plan of the FS Italiane Group, presented by the CEO Luigi Ferraris last May, the Logistics Pole envisaged investments of almost 3 billion euros over the next ten years to foster an important operational and commercial development of the sustainable logistics asset around rail freight traffic both in Italy and in Europe.
The Duisburg terminal
The Duisburg terminal extends for 140.000 square meters and has seven transshipment sidings, each 720 meters long, two shunting sidings and two high-performance gantry cranes for transshipment between road and rail. The annual handling capacity reaches 250.000 cargo units.
Furthermore, as a note from the FS Group explains, the Duisburg hub can count on modern technologies information technology and communication. For example, a control tower allows for pre-planning of terminal activities and special case management. Other high standards include high-tech gate functions, electronic scanning for entry registration, order priority management and truck parking allocation, advanced security management. Furthermore, the terminal's facilities allow for effective cross-docking to be activated, avoiding storage of goods and slowdowns in the cycle and the repair of railway wagons.
The comments of Strisciuglio (Fs) and Bangen (Duisport)
“Being part of the shareholding structure that will manage the Duisburg terminal means guaranteeing customers an important expansion of geographical targets, because the terminal is located in a strategic position, in the heart of Germany, in an important industrial area, along the main trade exchange axis of Europe”. So he commented on the decision Gianpiero Strisciuglio, managing director of Mercitalia Logistics, adding that "this will contribute to the achievement of other important objectives, improving the quality of services, synchronizing the traction and access slots to the terminal areas, increasing transport efficiency, all preparatory activities for an effective service door to door".
“The long-term partnership concluded in Duisburg not only strengthens our position, but also paves the way for sustainable growth and expansion of our business model. By jointly leveraging the potential of the three strong players duisport, Samskip and TX Logistik, we can continuously develop terminals and be successful together. This will create additional handling capacities at the Duisburg site,” he said Markus Bangen, CEO of Duisport.
The partnership for the terminal is currently still subject to the approval of the European competition authorities.
