Interporto Bologna first Italian terminal to join InlandLinks
The Interporto Bologna container terminal close to Bologna (Italy) has joined InlandLinks. The network now numbers almost 40 terminals in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Poland and in Italy. The terminal in Bologna is bimodal and has a capacity of 300,000 TEU a year. It is directly connected to the port of Rotterdam by a shuttle train running 4 times week, operated by GTS/Shuttlewise, said in the port's media release.
InlandLinks is the online platform for container terminals in the hinterland, offering inter modal services to/from Rotterdam. The terminals are presented on the basis of objective and comparable criteria. This enables all participants in the logistics chain to identify the general and specific advantages better. It also contributes to a rise of intermodal transport by train and barge of the flow of containers that triples in the next 25 years. InlandLinks is an initiative of the Port of Rotterdam Authority and developed two years ago in cooperation with VITO (Dutch Inland Container Terminal Organisation).
Rotterdam expects to see container flows triple in the next 25 years. Due to the growth in world trade, the favourable geographic location and the increase in very large container ships, each with a capacity in the region of 20,000 units. Of the total of some 30 million TEU handled in 2035, approx. 2 million are expected to be shipped in and out using smaller vessels from and to European ports. Some 18 million TEU will travel to and from the hinterland via intermodal transport. For this flow, InlandLinks should give insight in better and more sustainable connections.
