Cobantur Boltas and DFDS jointly expand intermodal transport route

As one of the leading companies in the maritime and logistics industry in Europe, DFDS continues to expand its intermodal transports and, in cooperation with Cobantur Boltas, offers additional weekly round trips on the direct rail connection Nuremberg-Trieste, which went into operation last fall.

On April 11, 2021, DFDS launched routes connected to its railway connections, strengthening its sustainable supply chain services. The first solution of the Intermodal competence center launched in partnership with primeRail Gmbh, the new line gets new routes. The new services allow trailers and truck beds loaded in Turkey to their recipients in Europe in an environmentally friendly and fast way in a period marked by the pandemic which has made logistics all the more crucial.

“The increased frequency of this particular line is again proofing the success of the long standing cooperation between Cobantur Boltas and DFDS as well as the growing importance of sustainable logistics solutions.” says Iskender Cobanoglu, member of the Board of Directors at Cobantur Boltas and Managing Director of the German Boltas GmbH.

“DFDS Mediterranean Business Unit continues to enhance its already powerful intermodal infrastructure further,” said Lars Hoffmann, the Head of DFDS Mediterranean Business Unit, about the new routes on the Nuremberg-Trieste connection line. “Our new line is the first solution of our intermodal competence center in partnership with primeRail Gmbh. We are very happy to ramp up our range of services with new routes.”

Timetable of the expanded connection: every Thursday and Sunday there is a service from Trieste to Nuremberg. Vice versa, from Nuremberg to Trieste, departures are on Tuesday and Friday.

New direct train Nuremberg-Trieste improves supply chains

The new direct connection, implemented in cooperation between Cobantur Boltas and DFDS Mediterranean Business Unit, the Turkey subsidiary of DFDS, expands the range of sustainable transports between Europe, Turkey and beyond.

Successful launch of the new connection

The first train on the new line left Trieste last Thursday, November 5 and reached the TriCon-Terminal in Nuremberg on Friday, November 6, 2020. The connection is part of the intermodal freight traffic to Turkey, Greece and the neighboring economic areas. The new block train is operated by DFDS and connects Nuremberg, via Trieste, with Pendik and Ambarli in Turkey and Patras in Greece, with regional and supra-regional pre-carriage and onward carriage in each case.

The weekly train consists of 4 double pocket wagons and 26 flat wagon groups with a capacity of 8 megatrailers and 26 45-foot containers. In the near future, an increase in the service to 2 – 3 weekly departures is planned.

The President of the DFDS Mediterranean Business Unit, Lars Hoffmann, highlighted the importance of the Nuremberg-Trieste connection as a strategic development: “The DFDS Mediterranean Business Unit, in partnership with Cobantur Boltas, has become the operator of the new direct rail link Nuremberg-Trieste, further improving our sustainable supply chain services. We are very pleased to have added another strategically important service to our service portfolio”.

A strong intermodal infrastructure

As one of the largest integrated shipping and logistics companies in Europe and operator of narrow route networks in the North Sea, Baltic Sea, English Channel and Mediterranean, DFDS offers a strong intermodal transport infrastructure, with ro-ro services between Turkey and Europe and rail connections from Italy.

DFDS has decided to establish an intermodal competence center in Cologne, Germany, as train solutions are considered an important part of its future business. This new line is the first successful project of the competence center and the joint venture with primeRail GmbH.

The Turkish-German logistics association Çobantur Boltas, based in Maltepe/İstanbul, and Allersberg/Nuremberg, has been handling transports via Trieste for 20 years. “With the new service, we are expanding our range of resilient and sustainable connections between these now closer economic areas with the support of DFDS,” says Iskender Cobanoglu, member of the Board of Directors at Cobantur Boltas and Managing Director of the German Boltas GmbH.

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