| Greetings on the turn of the year | ||
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Dear colleagues, dear readers,  European rail transport continues to undergo an unparalleled change process. The privatisation of the state railways, the liberalisation in the EU countries with fundamental amendments of the rules and regulations, the wave of globalization with a massive shift in previous production structures as well as the expansion of the European Union demand from all service providers connected with the rail system a resolute adaptation of their products and structures. IBS has accompanied the above mentioned changes over the past year, especially in the working groups. The member companies have been equipped with respective information and hints for the adaptation of their business structures. Emphasis was placed on: • the new COTIF and its annexes • the new positioning of the rail forwarders under the changed framework conditions • the logging of subsidy programmes and • the deepening of the cooperation between rail forwarders and rail transport companies IBS has underscored the claim of rail forwarders to take over the leading role in the logistical integration of rail transport at a significantly rising number of information events and conferences. The cooperation with other organisations and associations embracing similar interests was further developed and new levels of working togther were prepared. I would like to thank all IBS members who supported our work actively. And, once again, I would like to reiterate that the entire work of the IBS is based on voluntary activities of the Board and the members. I would like to wish you some peaceful days with your families during the season and the best of health and plenty of energy for the New Year 2006. Yours Olaf Krüger | ||
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| Interview with IBS Board Member Fritjof Jonas | ||
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Questions to Fritjof Jonas, Managing Director of Express Scandinavia AB in Norköpping (Sweden). Mr Jonas has been a Board Member since 2005 and is responsible for international relations.  How do you see your task as the Board Member in charge of “international relations”? I see my task as a kind of “bridge builder” between the different cultures and nationalities but also between the international bodies and the IBS members among one another. My aim is to strengthen and expand IBS. How do you gather information on European transport policies? Firstly, the daily work provides an excellent source of information through the many contacts with customers, suppliers and business friends. Secondly, there is the possibility of getting information from Brussels, first and foremost, on EU countries, of course. How do you want to win these new members over? This is to happen first and foremost through the IBS national delegates and the IBS members in the respective countries. The "transport logistic fair" taking place in Munich every two years offers another possibility at which we were able to gain new members also in the past. What advantages does an IBS membership offer European companies? The greatest part of IBS work consists in dealing with questions of European transport policies and structures and their impact on the playing field of competition und and in providing answers to those very questions. Every IBS member has access to this information and they are able to update themselves on the latest status of European transport policies. And there is another advantage of IBS membership that should not be underestimated: the twice annual IBS conference staged in a different European country every time. They are an excellent platform of information, as there is the possibility here of exchanging views and experience among companies from 16 European countries. This has already led to many joint activities and business deals. How do you steer and coordinate the work of the IBS national delegates? We are entering a new stage and will restructure the work of the national delegates. It is the aim to make available changes and novelties as well as important and interesting information from the respective countries to all IBS members as soon as possible. The new IBS website offers the respective possibilities to do so. Support our work - become an IBS member application form and further information  Becoming a members | ||
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| IBS Plenary Session and Members Assembly in Wroclaw | ||
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 This year’s IBS autumn conference took place at the Sofitel hotel in Wroclaw from 6 to 7 October 2005. The IBS Chairman, Olaf Krüger(Head of the “Rail Forwarding” Division of the Kühne + Nagel Group) was able to welcome altogether 88 participants from 16 European countries to the 21st IBS Plenary Session. The first-time workshop “Future solutions in European rail freight transport” met with a lot of applause and positive response, so that this event is going to become a permanent one at future IBS conferences. The visionary paper Rail Freight Transport with Single Wagons in Line with the Future by Dr.-Ing. Ullrich Wischhöfer, Institute for Machine Elements, Construction Technology and Tribology (IMKT) of the University of Hanover, based on the 1999 study: Cargo on Rail 2000 plus by Dr.-Ing. Rainer Kratochwille, Institute for Rail Vehicles and Machine Equipment (ISB) of the University of Hanover, was the highlight of the workshop. This paper triggered a lively discussion but also provided food for reflection. All in all, the participants described it as a step in the right direction. The discussion on the future use of private freight wagons was discussed broadly at the conference. This is where IBS has long demanded the equal r e a t m e n t o f r a i l o w n e d and private freight wagons. Apart from the pricing, the question of liability is one of the main issues. All of these questions are ruled on in the already planned and published new version of the COTIF. This new version of the COTIF is to come into force in 2006. The paper delivered by Katarzyna Marciniak von der PKP-Cargo AG. from PKP-Cargo AG was another highlight of the conference. She introduced the future strategy of PKP Cargo in a much acknowledged and interesting contribution. During a joint dinner at the “Inspiracja” restaurant in the old part of Wroclaw, IBS members had ample opportunity of personal discussions and an exchange of experience. The next IBS conference will take place on 6/7 April 2006 in Portoroz (Slovenia). IBS will celebrate its “10th Anniversary” on 12/13 October 2006 within a larger framework at the place of foundation - Berlin. | ||
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| Green Cargo and Railion develop cooperation | ||
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The Swedish rail freight company Green Cargo AB and the German Railion Deutschland AG, the rail freight company of DB Logistics, will intensify their cooperation in international rail freight transport with an agreement concluded in October. Both railway companies intend to develop cooperation further in order to be able to offer improved international rail transport services to industry in Scandinavia. This is extremely important for the Northern edge of Europe. It is the aim of the two partners to enhance the quality of rail freight transport in Europe considerably, particularly along the axis of Sweden - Germany - Italy. Apart from improving the transport quality, the partners also expect greater cost efficiency in preparing products. The first joint project is to concentrate on international transport along the corridors of Maschen - Hallsberg and Maschen - Gothenburg, optimising the use of the locomotives of both railway companies and a better timetablecoordinated production from Germany via Denmark to Sweden and vice versa. The two partners expect a further enhancement of efficiency and quality due to an optimised wagon management, which is to increase the capacity use of the fleet, on the one hand, and to provide the customer with up-to-date status information with the help of track and trace, on the other hand. Apart from the land route via Denmark in cooperation with Railion Danmark, both partners have established a combined production, adopting a two-way strategy, via the Baltic Sea in cooperation with Scandlines. The joint activities of this cooperation are to deliver first results already in 2006. Three million tons are exchanged between Germany and Sweden on rail every year. This corresponds with a modal split of 28 percent of the entire tonnage. Since 2001, German-Scandinavian rail freight transport has seen a positive growth trend of more than 5 percent per annum. The transports are handled primarily through single car traffic. The steel, automobile, paper and wood pulp logistics represent a major part of the goods transported on rail between Scandinavia, Germany and even to Italy. Scandlines is an IBS member.  | ||
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| “Bohemia-Express” to the Czech and Slovak republics | ||
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“Bohemia-Express” to the Czech and Slovak republics Im October, Kombiverkehr started a new block train called “Bohemia-Express” between Duisburg – Lovosice v.v. in cooperation with the partner company Bohemiakombi. The “Bohemia-Express” runs from Duisburg on Mondays and Thursdays with the end of loading at 9 pm and reaches Lovosice on the following weekday. In the opposite direction, the block train runs from Lovosice on Wednesdays and Saturdays with the end of loading at 8.00 am. It reaches Duisburg also over night or from Saturday to Monday. From Losovice, there are connections using the existing feeder transports to the Czech terminals of Prerov and Zin- Zelechovice as well as to the Slovak terminals of Bratislava-ÚNS, Dunajska Streda, Cierna nad Tisou, Kosice and Zilina. These are just a selection of a great number of possible connections. The gateway terminal of Duisburg represents a turntable in East West transport for Kombiverkehr as well as for transferring on the transports by rail. From here, there are many other gateway connections available, for instance to the Benelux countries and France. Kombiverkehr is an IBS member.  | ||
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| E.H. Harms Auto-Terminal Duisburg inaugurated | ||
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A new Auto-Terminal was inaugurated by E.H. Harms Automobile-Logistics in Duisburg on 11 November. This additional location in the Pan-European network of E.H. Harms offers intermodal transhipment possibilities between rail, road and inland navigation.  The terminal, with a total space of 100,000 square metres at the logport facility in Duisburg-Rheinhausen started operation at the beginning of July. By the end of the year, some 35,000 vehicles are to be channelled through the Port of Duisburg. In the medium term, this number is to rise to 100,000 vehicles per year. In the initial phase, some 80 new jobs have been created and there is a growing trend. At the inauguration celebration, the North Rhine- Westphalian Transport Minister, Oliver Wittke, was happy that the new terminal also contributes to relieving the roads. E.H. Harms is an IBS member.  | ||
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| PartnerZug - guest paper at the IBS conference in Wroclaw | ||
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 With the help of “PartnerZug”, several forwarding companies bundle their transport volumes to form block trains. PartnerZug, these are forwarders who operate and market their own trains together, in order to use the advantages of block train transports along as many connections as possible. “Several partners - one train” this is the guiding motto of this cooperation, which was introduced by Georg Goler (GoTrain Eisenbahnverkehre GmbH) at the IBS Members Assembly in Wroclaw. Line development, tapping potentials, bringing together partners, setting up transports and conducting rail operations - this is what PartnerZug does in cooperation with the respective (line-)partners, in order to best achieve the aim of “PartnerTrain: Trains of Partners”. For further information: http://www.gotrain.de | ||
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| Deutsche Bahn buys US logistics company Bax Global | ||
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 With the purchase of the Global Bax Inc. in Irvine, California, from the US Brink’s Company, Deutsche Bahn is expanding decisively its position as an international logistics service provider in the major Asia-Pacific growth markets as well as in China and the USA. DB Board Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn said, “Bax fits our strategy exactly and supplements ideally our logistics subsidiary Schenker. With these two companies, DB AG is now a worldwide leading company in the transport and logistics industry.” | ||
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| New services and a new design of www.transfracht.de | ||
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 As of now, the newly designed internet pages of the market leader in maritime port hinterland transport are available under http://www.transfracht.de. TFG Transfracht now offers the possibility of calling up timetables directly, enquiring about prices quickly, booking jobs directly, viewing tracking and tracing status and using residual capacities at a reduced price. The status messages, available since August, enable purposeful transport monitoring in multimodal transport and an optimisation of transport chains. TFG customers have access to their data from any location. TFG Transfracht is an IBS member.  | ||
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| Ermewa concentrates German operations in Berlin | ||
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 The Ermewa Group has concentrated the rental of rail freight wagons of Ermewa GmbH Transportmittel-Vermietung, Hamburg, and the logistical activities of Ermefret GmbH International Logistikdienstleistungen at a shared office location in Berlin-Mitte, since 1 December 2005. Apart from the headquarters in Geneva and the new office construction in Paris (Puteaux - La Defense) in 2001, the Group now has one central location in Berlin for Germany and Eastern Europe as well as the CIS. Ermewa is an IBS member. | ||
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| Did you know... • 4.6 million TEU (+15.6%) were handled at the Port of Rotterdam in the first half of the year 2005 • the Hungarian MAV Railways have set up the MAV Cargo subsidiary for freight transport • Ökombi, the Austrian multimodal operator, started a new piggyback connection between Graz and Regensburg • a EUR 6.5 million multimodal terminal was opened at the South Swedish port of Helsingborg • the Swiss multimodal operator Hupac has opened an office in the Danish town of Taulov | ||
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| + European News + |
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| Personal details: New Transport Minister in Germany. Wolfgang Tiefensee (50) is the new Transport Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany. He is the successor to Dr Manfred Stolpe. New Board Member of Deutsche Bahn On 1 January 2006, the (still) Bavarian Economics and Transport Minister, Dr Otto Wiesheu (61)), will switch to the Board of Deutsche Bahn. He is the successor to Klaus Daubertshäuser, who is leaving the Board by the end of this year. New Fiata President. Manfred F. Boes (64) is the new President of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations. Mr Boes is also the Chairman of the German Freight Forwarding and Logistics Association (DSLV). Connex with new management Astrid Haefke-Hahn and Antoine Hurel took over the management of Connex Cargo Logistics GmbH (CCL) on 7 October 2005. This is the umbrella organisation of the freight transport activities of the Connex Group in Germany. The previous Managing Director Dr Christian Kuhn has left the company at his own request. Connex is an IBS member. |
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