From 1 January 2024, train traffic in the Antwerp port area will be organized differently. For Single Wagon Load, there will be a new operational model that is neutral and usable by all interested parties. To bundle this traffic, Railport launched a tendering process, and the winners are now known. This is the first result of the rail vision for the port and should lead to a more efficient and better offering.
Efficiently organizing what is known as the first-mile and last-mile traffic in the port area is a very difficult exercise. First of all, rail traffic is expected to grow. In addition, there are many different rail operators, each with its operational model. There is also currently no collaboration between these companies. All that rail traffic has to go over the limited available rail infrastructure with some bottlenecks, such as the bridges over the locks.
The deliveries of railcars are many and fragmented. This dramatically increases costs and hurts the environment.
Significant efficiency and sustainability gains can be achieved by better coordinating railcar deliveries and collections and by bundling the delivery and collection within the port area. As such, longer trains can be used instead of many short trains.
