ESC warns single wagon-load rail freight may implode

EUROPE's single wagon-load rail freight sector is in danger of imploding, leaving thousands of customers stranded with nowhere to go, says the European Shippers Council (ESC).

Speaking at a recent Rail Freight Seminar, ESC Rail Freight Council chairman Henk Schaafstal said shippers need to show the necessity of preserving such services. "There isn't much time," he said.

At the heart of the matter, he said, was the failure of many national or state-owned railway companies to rationalise and adapt to a liberalised freight market. These operators, he said, are cutting single-wagon freight services, and making the cuts within weeks of announcing them "leaving shippers high and dry".

On the other hand, Mr Schaafstal noted that new entrants and new services have helped in some parts of the EU to stabilise and grow rail's share of the freight market. "Nevertheless, it was disappointing that a significant number of new entrants that had entered the market during the formative years of liberalisation and had since ceased operations or been taken over by the incumbent operators," the statement said.

The seminar showcased different models of sustainable single-wagon services for the future, said the ESC statement. They were largely collaborative models, requiring rail freight operators (as with the X-Rail alliance of European operators) to combine operations for international single-wagon services. In other instances, customers would group to offer the necessary volumes for logistics companies to secure rail freight services.

Fundamental to the whole issue was liberalisation, with Monica Heiming, secretary general of the private rail freight operators association (ERFA), giving numerous examples where barriers remained for new entrants, "preventing fair access to the track and facilities, to train paths and slots".

Said ESC secretary general Nicolette van der Jagt: "ESC is pleased to hear that a study into single wagon traffic is to be undertaken, and that more immediate solutions will be sought by the European Commission. Nothing will work without the adoption of the commission's proposed Recast of the First Railway Package, which needs the support of the European Parliament and the Council. In the end, these are the people that can either save and make rail freight more attractive to industry, or kill it stone dead."
(Source:www.schednet.com)