Truck companies shift to rail in Germany

How can an exclusively trucking company turn to rail? What incentives need to be in place to experiment with combined transport? German rail association Allianz pro-Schiene has the answer-and it is simplified access via digitalisation. That is how the road logistics company Kroop & Co. Transport + Logistik GmbH transported its first container by rail in late December.

Kroop, based in Hamburg, has been a traditional road transport company with no rail experience. However, in late December 2022, it decided to give rail a chance. For the first time, it set up the transport of a container between the DUSS Hamburg-Billwerder terminal and Nuremberg by train instead of by truck.

“We booked the transport digitally and are very excited about the handling. Combined transport is an interesting alternative to truck transport for us because it is more environmentally friendly and saves us a good 20 per cent of the costs in this specific case,” commented Alexander Kähler, head of the local transport and container transport department at Kroop.