Demand for intermodal transport on the upturn at ICF

Since the beginning of October Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA has been noticing an upward tendency on the unaccompanied intermodal transport market.

At the same time it has starting drawing up plans for extensions to its services next year to be ready to respond with maximum flexibility.

For freight traffic between Germany and Austria on the one hand, and South-East Europe on the other, the increase in demand for container and swap body shipments is particularly marked. ICF is now building up its capacity, downsized in the wake of the economic crisis, on a stage by stage basis. In the South-East Europe market sector, intermodal services between Germany and Greece and between Germany/Austria and Hungary are to have a further departure per week. In Turkey the situation has returned to normal after the wave of bad weather: ICF is expecting volumes to start rising again and has made preparations to this end.

In traffic between Germany and Scandinavia, ICF boosted its frequency by one shuttle round trip per week with effect from the beginning of November. In association with its subsidiary Intercontainer Scandinavia (ICS) special attention is also being paid to the "trailer" and "swap body" market sectors. At the same time connections to the ICS domestic network in Sweden are being more strongly marketed throughout Europe. Further increases are to be expected in the frequency of these liner services.

In the "Switzerland" market sector, volumes are back on the upturn. Provided demand remains at the current high level, extra services between Switzerland and the seaports are being planned for beginning next year.

Source: Transportweekly