Most finite products are shipped in containers, this type of transport representing the main means which facilitates intermodality therefore it is estimated that in the 21st century, intermodal transport, next to the technological improvements of the transhipment systems, becomes the “backbone” of international trade, being considered the most efficient means of managing the “door to door” international transport activity.
Romania, as border of the European Union, and due to the location of Constanţa Seaport, terminus point of the pan-European Corridor IV, has to take advantage of the boost in container cargo transport by developing logistics and intermodal terminals.
Such an intermodal road-rail terminal was launched at the beginning of December 2011 by Tibbett Logistics, with investments estimated at EUR 6.4 Million. The new terminal, located in the west of Bucharest, is the second terminal of Tibbett Logistics in the Romanian capital, the first terminal being inaugurated in 2008 in the south of the city. The company also owns 32 wagons for intermodal traffic.
“The location of the terminal is very important and we believe that this is the best position of a terminal in the south of the country providing traffic both nationally and internationally. The successful development of any intermodal terminal is generated not only by its facilities, but also by its location. Freight trains can now move from Constanţa Seaport to the door of the big retailers and manufacturers in Bucharest. We are just a few kilometres away from all the main industrial and logistics parks in the city”, declared David Goldsborough, CEO of Tibbett Logistics.
The first phase of the second intermodal terminal of Tibbett Logistics in Bucharest begins operations with 12,000 square metres of platform and 2.5 km of railways plus an adjacent warehouse of 6,500 square metres connected to the railways right in the centre of the terminal. The platform provides a capacity of 1,200 TEUs, a figure which is expected to double by the fourth quarter of 2012 with the finalization of the second investment phase which includes another 150 m of access to the railway network and the extension of container warehouses.
Specialists expect a cut of 16.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year as a result of less road traffic from and in the area of Bucharest with the construction of the terminal.
Apart from the regular transport carried out by Tibbett Logistcs between Bucharest and Constanţa, the terminal is open to all end customers and operators and will operate trains to and from countries from the EU, Turkey and Western Romania. For the beginning of 2012, the terminal also expects the arrival of the first trains for the transport of automotive vehicles.
“When I first came to Romania in 2010, one of my first journeys was to Constanţa, one of the biggest ports in Europe. I found it strange that many Romanian companies preferred to get their supplies from Rotterdam, 2 thousand kilometres away on roads. A year later, things change. The improvement of the railway infrastructure and the new intermodal terminal in Bucharest make Constanţa an every day more attractive alternative”, declared Martin Harris, the Ambassador of Great Britain in Romania, present at the inauguration.
Ambroziu Duma, the representative of Constanţa Maritime Seaport Administration, who also attended the event, has stressed “the importance of domestic transport solutions in the development of freight traffic through Constanţa Seaport”, also highlighting “the large volumes of freight still carried on roads to Romania through North European ports with unnecessary high costs for both consumers and the environment”.
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