A pioneer in Poland's intermodal market, DB Schenker Logistics now offers an initial twelve semi-trailers for combined transport between Italy and Poland on the Verona-Ostrava route. This is the first such service available for the route. The first trains departed in mid-January. For the time being, three round trips per week are being offered. Cemat, Kombiverkehr and Bohemiakombi are the leading operators for the transports. As the creative mind behind the business idea, DB Schenker allocated twelve of the 28 spaces per train for its own trailers.

DB SCHENKERhangartner specialists in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Italy expect to load some 3,600 trailers a year.
Block trains are formed at Verona Quadrante Europa Terminal in Italy. They then travel to Ostrava-Paskov Terminal on the Czech-Polish border, where the trailers are handed over to the Polish national company, Schenker Sp. z o.o. Nearly all of Poland can be served from Ostrava-Paskov Terminal. DB Schenker Rail Deutschland is in charge of purchasing the traction between Verona and Ostrava-Paskov, while Schenker Italiana S.p.A. is responsible for onward carriage of the semi-trailers from Verona Quadrante Europa Terminal. The DB Schenker Logistics Intermodal Operating Center in Zurich has overall responsibility between the two terminals. Door-to-door transport from northern Italy to Poland takes two to three days.

This new DB SCHENKERhangartner service offers customers from trade and industry the combination of trucking and rail services from a single source. Trucks handle pre-carriage and onward carriage, while trains handle long distances in unaccompanied combined transport. This enables even complex flows of goods to be handled economically and most importantly without harming the environment.
The new service is the second DB SCHENKERhangartner connection to Poland. International trailer transports to and from Poland began last year with the combined transport rail link between Poznan and Duisburg.