GEODIS reduces the carbon footprint of road freight between Germany and Spain by launching a new rail-road service

Since February of this year, GEODIS has been running a new rail-road line for freight transport between Hendaye (French-Spanish border) and Metz (French-German border). Since this summer, five to six trains per week have been using this route. Combined with a local “door-to-door” service, this alternative offering reduces congestion on European roads as well as the carbon footprint of freight on this corridor.

This new transport service is aimed at companies that export goods from Spain and Portugal to the north of France, Germany, Benelux countries and Eastern Europe, or that import from these countries, for sectors such as retail distribution, automotive and industrial.

The service is operated by GEODIS which provides an end-to-end logistics solution with a 1,100 kilometers railway line between Hendaye and Metz, with local delivery by road for the final miles. In the long term, a Paris stopover at GEODIS’ logistics platform in Bonneuil-sur-Marne is planned.

“This new multimodal service will take up to 11,500 trucks off the road each year,” says Olivier Royer, Executive Vice President Road Transport at GEODIS. “Beyond the driver shortage and road congestion situation which we are currently facing, we will see a real impact on the carbon footprint of freight between France and Spain by significantly reducing CO2 emissions per ton transported.”

The “door-to-door” service operated by GEODIS includes cross-docking in its own warehouses located at each end of the line, as well as freight transport from Metz to final delivery points in Northern Europe or the Iberian Peninsula, using its own fleet of vehicles.

“This multimodal solution makes it possible to achieve flows with a transit time similar to that of road haulage,” explains Olivier Royer. “In this way we can guarantee high volume transport at a reasonable cost, while eliminating certain factors such rising diesel prices, seasonal fluctuations in heavy goods vehicle transport or the cost of return trips that normally impact transport by truck.”

A freight tracking and management system has also been set up to allow customers to learn the location of their shipment in real time. GEODIS also ensures its customers guaranteed service by offering alternative transport by road with the help of 3,800 vehicles from the GEODIS fleet or from its transport partners in the event of an incident.

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