Contargo affiliates terminals with InlandLinks
Contargo, the largest operator of container hinterland terminals and inland shipping services in the Rhine corridor, affiliates its terminal network with a connection to the port of Rotterdam with InlandLinks. This afternoon at Transport Logistics in Munich, Heinrich Kerstgens and Thomas Löffler, both Managing Director of Contargo, signed the participant declaration to that aim together with Hans Smits, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, said in the company's press release.
The terminals in Germany, France and Switzerland will be affiliated from the middle of June, starting with the eleven terminals (*) managed fully by Contargo. Together with the Contargo terminal which was already affiliated with InlandLinks (Emmerich), this brings the total to 12 locations for Contargo.
Kerstgens: ‘InlandLinks is an excellent marketing tool. From now on we can bring international attention to our terminals - based on objective and comparable criteria - and convince our potential clients of our many-sided and wide range even faster.’ With the entrance of Contargo, the InlandLinks network has grown from 22 to 53 affiliated inland terminals since its launch at the Transport Logistics fair in Munich in 2011. InlandLinks thus covers about 50% of the market in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Smits: ’The entry of the Contargo terminals is yet another confirmation that the market parties support this project and appreciate its added value. Shippers and logistics service providers also indicate that InlandLinks clearly satisfies a need for information in respect of intermodal transport. InlandLinks offers the ideal, neutral platform for this. Based on the users’ wishes, it will be expanded even further in the coming period with new functionalities and terminals.’
InlandLinks is developing at a fast rate in terms of functionality as well. During the fair, Donald Baan, InlandLinks project manager of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, presented the new intermodal route planner. This can be used to obtain detailed insight into the intermodal connections to and from Rotterdam. The visitor enters the sea terminal at which the containers leave or arrive, and then the site provides an overview (list and map) of the best intermodal routes to the desired destination in the hinterland, with separate information of all the inland terminals, the transit times and the level of CO2 emissions. It is a unique tool which offers the logistics sector sustainable and transparent connections.
Smits: ‘Contargo is an ideal partner: besides transhipment, it also offers transport, and that on an extremely large scale. This means that together we can give an impulse to the highly necessary efficiency improvement in hinterland transport by water. One example is Nextlogic, in which, within the port, the entire chain has agreed to information exchange for stricter scheduling, measuring performance and increasing the scale.’
