€35m for 25-year anniversary

DP World will invest up to €35m in its trimodal Stuttgart terminal the next three to five years to boost capacity for sustainable rail and barge transport and bolster operations within the firm’s wider inland network.

Rob Harrison, CEO of DP World Inland, said: “Our investment at the terminal will help to strengthen our trimodal transport solutions, boost supply chain resiliency in the European mainland and consequently ensure the smooth flow of trade coming in and out of the port for many more years to come.”

From Stuttgart, DP World currently runs regular connecting feeder services into the ports Mannheim, Gemersheim, Basel and barge service into the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam respectively. There are also regular rail connections to Bremerhaven and Hamburg.

The investment comes as European road haulage faces a deepening driver shortage, which has placed increasing strain on the trucking industry. Rail and barge services, on the other hand, are seen as part of the solution to building more resilient supply chains, while also reducing carbon output.

A single train can carry the same amount of cargo as 70 trucks, while a recent study showed that barges can move a ton of cargo 1041km with just under five litres of fuel consumed, and trains can move the same amount of cargo 768km. In contrast, with the same amount of fuel, trucks can only move one ton of cargo a total of 233km.

The continued demand for more sustainable and resilient modes of transport, such as rail and barge, is expected to act as an accelerator for technological development that will, in turn, make them even more efficient, as through the development of electric or hydrogen barges, for example.

Additionally, this shift will be matched with automation, digitalization, and electrification of the logistics industry, helping the sector to become incrementally more sustainable over time as smarter solutions take hold in the market.