b'24American Journal of Transportation ajot.comI ntermodal& l ogIstIcsn ewsU-Freight says Suez crisis is boostingKansas City Southern begins its China-Europe rail freight service talks with Canadian NationalKansas City Southern said amore than a century of opera-With increasing volumes of cargo being expe- daily service that operates from that railhead to andproposal by Canadian Nationaltions in the U.S.rienced on its LCL and FCL rail freight servicesfrom Malaszewicze in Poland, Hamburg in Ger- Railway Co. may lead to betterRivalCanadianPacificsaid between China and Europe, the U-Freight Groupmany, and Liege in Belgium. terms than an offer by Canadianonthatitwillfullysupport says that the recent problems in the Suez CanalLastyear,itaddedasecondconsolidationPacific Railway Ltd., potentiallyKansasCitySouthernsdecision havemadethetransportoffreightbyrailfromcentre at its logistics hub in Shanghai. escalating a bidding war in onetoreviewthecompetingoffer, China into Europe look all the more attractive. Wong concludes: We now handle significantof the industrys biggest poten- adding that the U.S. company will SimonWong,chiefexecutiveofficeroftheconsol shipments from China to Germany, Italy,tial deals in decades. see that the rival bid is fraught U-Freight Group comments: Clearly supply chainSweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands in par- Kansas City Southern saidwith challenges, uncertainties and planners are reappraising what was once a com- ticular, as well as smaller volumes to other Euro- it will begin talks with Canadianregulatory risks that arent pres-pletely dominant Suez Canal route from China intopean countries, handled by our network of longNational Railway, confirming anent in its current agreement.Europe,withintermodalrailcontinuingasharpstanding agents once the shipments arrive at theearlier Bloomberg News report.Canadian Pacific has already upwardtrajectoryin2021,followingonfromathree rail freight hubs on the continent. Thenegotiationscouldyieldawonapetitionforitsproposed strong 2020. We chose the service from Zhengzhou as itsuperiorproposalthanonetie-up to be exempt from tougher AlthoughthefirstChina-Europecontaineroffers a daily frequency, although for FCL ship- reached last month with Cana- merger rules that the regulator had freight train was in 2011, it has taken a decade andmentsourlargeChinesepresenceenablesustodian Pacific Railway, it said. Theestablished in 2001, lowering the considerable investment by Chinas government toarrange container pickup from across the countryU.S. rail operator remains boundburdenforwinningapprovalof see the route become an established part of logisticsand select a service from the rail freight gatewayby the earlier merger agreementthe deal.networks. that is nearest to our customers. andtheresnoassurancethatTheSurfaceTransportation The COVID pandemic, and the capacity prob- Whileothertransportmodesstillfacesig- talks with the rival bidder wouldBoard, which is the final author-lems in the air and ocean sectors have pushed thenificant capacity and schedule issues, our overlandresult in a transaction, it added. ityonrailacquisitions,saidit route to much heavier usage, with the recent block- railfreightserviceisclearlydemonstratingthatThetwobiggestCanadianapprovedthepetitioninpart age of the Suez Canal leading to additional traffic. it offers a competitive alternative to air freight inrailroads are battling for owner- because the combination would U-Freight started its regular service in 2014,regardstoprice,andconsiderablyfastertransitship of the U.S. company, seek- remain the smallest of the large consolidating cargo in Zhengzhou and using thetimes compared to the ocean freight alternative. ing to extend their rail links notNorthAmericanrailroads,and justwithinthetwocountries,would result in the fewest over-but also through Mexico to takelapping routes when compared advantage of a reworked Northto a Kansas City Southern merger Americantradealliancecalledwith any other large railroad.theUnitedStates-Mexico-Can- Earlier,CanadianPacific ada Agreement or USMCA. ChiefExecutiveOfficerKeith CanadianNationalofferedCreelcalledCanadianNation-$30 billion to snatch Kansas Cityals takeover bid fools gold, Southern, valuing the companysaying it has little chance of U.S. at $325 per share in a cash-and- regulatory approval.stock deal. The proposal toppedCanadianNationalcoun-a $25 billion deal Kansas Citytered, accusing Canadian Pacific reachedwithCanadianPacificoftryingtodistractinvestors last month. with inaccurate and unfounded This is the right combina- assertions. In a letter to Kansas tion to bring the renegotiatedCity Southern CEO Pat Ottens-USMCA to life in a meaning- meyer, it said Canadian Pacific ful way, Robert Pace, chair- wastryingtoadvanceitsown manofCanadianNational,interestsanddepriveinvestors said in a statement, touting itsof the full value of their shares.Daimler, Volvo plan to join forces on hydrogen-powered trucksTypical transit times from Zhengzhou to Malaszewicze are between 12 to 14 days, and 16-18 days to Hamburg. Globalheavy-truckrivalsInc.toworkonbattery-electric Intermodal continues comeback in first quarter Daimler AGandVolvoGrouptrucks,whichmanycompanies kickedoffajointventureforforecasttoberolledoutfaster Totalintermodalvolumeswereupdoubledigits:Trans- posteda7.5percentincrease.hydrogen-poweredfuelcelland on a much broader scale than rose10.5percentyear-over- Canada, 26.4 percent; Midwest- TheNortheast-Midwestcamestacks,seekingtoadvanceafuel cell stacks.year in the first quarter of 2021,Southwest,15.7 percent; and thein at 5.0 percent. technology thats been in devel- Theindustrystwolargest accordingtotheIntermodalSouthCentral-Southwest,15.6Total IMC volume rose 10.2opment for decades but has suf- manufacturersjoiningforces Association of North Americaspercent.TheSoutheast-South- percentyear-over-yearinQ1,fered from high costs and patchyon fuel cells will raise the bar IntermodalQuarterlyreport.westgrew8.9percent;thewithintermodalandhighwayinfrastructure. forpeerslikePaccarInc.or InternationalcontainersgainedMidwest-Northwest was up 8.3loadsup1.5percentand16.1ThetwocompanieswantVolkswagenAGsTratonSE. 14.8 percent from 2020; domes- percent; and the Intra-Southeastpercent, respectively. to become a fuel-cell leader andParts giant Robert Bosch GmbH tic shipments, 4.4 percent; andplan to start ramping up produc- cooperateswithstartupNikola trailers, 20.0 percent. tion in Europe in 2025, they saidMotorCo.andforgedafuel-IntermodalvolumeswereatlaunchoftheirCellcentriccell joint venture with Qingling up for the third consecutive quar- venture announced a year ago. Motors in China.ter through Q1. This growth isHydrogen-poweredfuel- WhenDaimlerandVolvo projectedtocontinuethroughcell electric trucks will be keyannounced the 50-50 joint ven-theremainderoftheyear,for enabling CO2-neutral trans- ture a year ago, they signaled a said Joni Casey, president andportation in the future, Daimlerplan to explore options beyond CEO of IANA. Even consid- truckchiefMartinDaumsaidthe use on highways, such as sta-eringweakcomparisonsthatin a statement. Battery-electrictionary power generation.supportedtheothersegments,trucks alone will not make thisSofarthelackofinfra-domesticintermodalpostedpossible. structure remains a major road-solid 4.4 percent gains. Road haulage is still domi- block. Daimler, Volvo and other Thesevenhighest-densitynated by diesel trucks, but stricterEuropean peers have called for tradecorridors,whichcollec- regulation is forcing manufactur- the creation of 300 high-perfor-tivelyhandledmorethan60erstoaccelerateashifttowardmance hydrogen refueling sta-percentoftotalvolume,werecleanerengines.Thatsboostedtionsforheavy-dutyvehicles all up in the first quarter. Threeefforts by incumbents and Teslaby 2025.'