Sweden and England are now part of the COBANTUR BOLTAS network
Shortly after launching our own train connection from Munich to Halkali, we are already expanding our range of intermodal services. We have just launched our first container trains to Gothenburg and London. The new environmentally friendly solutions include pre- and on-carriage services and act as gateway connections to all major Swedish and English economic centres.
We know the UK’s exit from the EU Customs Union is challenging many shippers to deal with the changed import and export procedures. That’s why we are offering a direct customs clearance service for import and export shipments in parallel with the new drop shipment service. The experts at CobanturBoltas master the complex import and export regulations and ensure smooth clearance.
For questions and inquiries, please contact us at: sales@boltas.de or +49 9176 9876 0
Iskender Cobanoglu, Managing Director of Boltas (left) and Marijo Pesic, Head of Eastern and South-Eastern European Transport at Kombiverkehr KG, send the first company train for COBANTUR BOLTAS off towards Halkali.
COBANTUR BOLTAS sets course for more sustainability
The Turkish-German logistics group COBANTUR BOLTAS is expanding its range of intermodal rail transport services. A Company Intermodal train managed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für kombinierten Güterverkehr mbH & Co. KG (Kombiverkehr) started its first journey from Munich to Halkali in Turkey on 21 January on behalf of the freight forwarding company. Traction on the through route is provided by DB Cargo AG on behalf of Kombiverkehr. The train will initially run once a week in both directions. The second round trip is already in preparation.
The train will cover a distance of around 2,000 kilometres each way and cross six national borders – without having to reload the transport containers. Another advantage: compared to continuous road freight transport, the new Company Intermodal train saves almost 80 tonnes of CO2 in the round trip, which corresponds to a 70 percent reduction in emissions. “We have been combining the train connection across the Alps with the ferry in Trieste on the Turkey-Bavaria route and back for years – and will continue to do so,” says Iskender Cobanoglu, Managing Director at Boltas – the German part of the logistics group. The new Company Intermodal train complements this offer: customers of the COBANTUR BOLTAS Group can now choose which of the two transport routes is better for them. Depending on the destination in Turkey, the transit time or, for example, the transport of special hazardous goods, the overland route, which is handled 100 per cent by rail, may then be the more suitable solution. “In this way, we are sending a clear signal in favour of rail, decoupling ourselves a good deal from the shortage of truck drivers and are even more climate-friendly,” says Cobanoglu.
COBANTUR BOLTAS got the intermodal train rolling with the help of Kombiverkehr KG. Both companies have been working together successfully for years – and have now put a company goods train on the rails for COBANTUR BOLTAS for the first time. “To make this challenging project possible, we conducted intensive negotiations with tractionaries, terminals and authorities,” says Alexander Ochs, Managing Director of the Frankfurt based operator. “So it is all the more gratifying that today, here at the DUSS terminal in Munich-Riem, together with our customer and also in the presence of the Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Construction and Transport, we are sending the first train on its journey.” Kombiverkehr takes care of the rental of wagons and replacement wagons, terminal services, round-the-clock train monitoring and order management. “An efficient complete package,” says Ochs.
Picture: Kombiverkehr KG/Fotostudio Heusers Graphic: Kombiverkehr KG
About Kombiverkehr Founded in 1969, Kombiverkehr Deutsche Gesellschaft für kombinierten Güterverkehr mbH & Co. KG develops, organises and markets an international rail network in intermodal transport that enables forwarders and transport companies to intelligently combine the advantages of rail, road and sea. Kombiverkehr offers more than 170 train departures with more than 15,000 connections per night across Europe for the economical, safe and environmentally friendly transport of goods. Shareholders in the limited partnership are around 230 national and international freight forwarders and transport companies as well as DB Cargo AG. The company, based in Frankfurt am Main, shifted a total of 858,079 truck consignments (1.72 million TEU) from road to rail in 2020, saving the environment the emission of over one million tonnes of climate-damaging carbon dioxide. 114 full-time employees generated a turnover of 397 million euros in 2020.
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.
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.
