Hupac: Strong growth of intermodal transport
Last year the Hupac group carried 926,414 road consignments or 1,720,000 TEU by rail. This is about 163,000 road consignments or 21.4 % more than in the previous year. This strong growth is partly attributable to one-off effects such as the recovery of traffic losses due to the Rhine disruption in 2017 and the acquisition of ERS Railways in June 2018.
Non-transalpine traffic showed the most dynamic development with an increase of just under 38%. The increase of 98,000 road consignments compared to the previous year is almost exclusively attributable to the volume of the operator ERS Railways, which was integrated into the Hupac Group in June 2018 and contributed to the overall result with about 92,000 road consignments.
ERS Railways, with its operational headquarters in Hamburg, specialises in maritime hinterland services and thus complements the portfolio of Hupac with its traditional focus on continental traffic. The network to the western ports by exploiting synergies with Hupac Intermodal is being expanded.
Transalpine traffic through Switzerland also showed a very positive development. Compared to the previous year, Hupac Intermodal was able to shift 67,000 additional road consignments to railways, which corresponds to an increase of 14.4%. Revised the Rastatt effect, traffic volumes in transalpine traffic through Switzerland increased by about 8%. Growth was again driven by the semi-trailer segment.
In 2019 Hupac expects transport demand to stabilise as a result of the economic downturn. “Now is the time to focus on the quality of the services,” emphasises Michail Stahlhut, director of Hupac Intermodal. “We must ensure a stable environment on which new growth can be built.”
