After several years of planning and negotiations, during which time French operator VIIA has set up a Lorry-Rail terminal in the port, Leipzig, Germany-based CargoBeamer Group is to get a combi-transport terminal in Calais.

Following an agreement with the Calais municipality, CargoBeamer’s affiliate CargoBeamer France SAS has acquired a 6-ha parcel in the planned La Turquerie logistics estate alongside the A16 motorway that feeds into the Getlink (Eurotunnel) terminal at Calais Fréthun.

Natacha Bouchart, Calais’s Mayor, President of Grand Calais Terre & Mers and A VP of the Hauts de France region said: “The agreement for the new CargoBeamer terminal is a great step for Calais and the region towards environmentally-friendly and quieter cargo transport by rail.”

The CEO of Cargobeamer AG, Dr Hans-Jürgen Weidemann, said that the new terminal will reduce the burden on roads and the environment throughout Europe: “Our new contract is a special milestone in the development of a European network with efficient handling facilities and environmentally friendly transport routes for logistics companies in Europe. It should relieve the road network in Europe and the environment at the same time.”

It is understood that 18 automated CargoBeamer GateModules will be installed, with a capacity to transfer horizontally up to 900 road trailers per day between rail and road.

In addition, all CargoBeamer wagons are equipped with loading palettes (baskets) that can be placed underneath non-cranable trailers so they can be lifted on/off the wagons by cranes or reach stackers (see photo, right).

Calais accounts for around 8,000 accompanied truck transports per day, via Getlink or the ferries. Together with VIIA, CargoBeamer turns Calais into a rail-road transfer hub for British o/d traffic. Their offer assuages the driver shortage problem and, in the Brexit context, introduces a much-needed buffer, but their success depends on the availability and reliability of freight paths.

The VIIA terminal is located inside the port boundary, which is inherently more secure than La Turquerie industrial zone. Hence CargoBeamer will have to ensure to take every step to that its new terminal is secure from access by clandestine migrants. However, its location is convenient for trucks using Getlink or the ferries. 

It is thought that CargoBeamer will initially focus on services linking Calais with destination/origin terminals in the eastern part of Germany and Poland. The VIIA service out of Calais goes to Bettembourg (Luxembourg), where there is a steel wheel connection to Perpignan, for the Spanish market. 

• Rising demand for freight transport between the CLIP terminal in Swarzedz-Poznan in Poland and Europe’s busiest port at Rotterdam has led to P&O Ferrymasters adding a sixth service every week to its train link between the two industrial centres. The additional departure – which will boost capacity by 20% – is specifically designed for LTL freight.