Contship Italia: New intermodal railway service from China to Italy
A new weekly connection from the Lombard hub of Melzo – RHM to the cities of the Rising Sun land.
Italy and China are closer thanks to the new intermodal railway service activated by Contship Italia and the German operator Bahnoperator GmbH.
On the Eurasian railway line, a new train will be activated connecting China with Europe and Italy, through the Lombard hub of Melzo. A railway route will connect various Chinese terminals with different intermediate stops in the most productive internal cities and regions of China with destination Melzo and then restart every following Saturday with the same outward itinerary, reducing transit time and then representing a valid alternative to sea transport.
Contship Italia will provide its intermodal network that combines maritime and land opportunities showing, even with this new connection, all its potential and efficiency. In fact, Melzo represents not only the reference terminal but also the connection hub of integrated services that Sogemar (the holding company of Contship Italia’s continental business) can make available: RHM customs service with the benefits that the customs Agency is located in Melzo, Hannibal MTO service to and from China, the taking and delivery of the last mile with the new driveMybox and finally the strengthening of the connection with China through the next collaboration with the railway company of the OceanoGate Group.
The service will go from one weekly departure (Saturday) to two departures (Saturday and Wednesday) in the coming months.
“This partnership enables a significant improvement of operations, reducing times and integrating different intermodal innovative services and solutions, with a clear advantage not only competitive but also in terms of environmental and sustainability,” explains Matthieu Gasselin, CEO of Sogemar. “Our Group confirms itself as the market leader for versatility of integrated services and for unique operational flexibility, achieving in this way a primacy also in continental transport.”
Marcel Stein, General Manager of Bahnoperator GmbH, adds: “Thanks to the new strong partnership with the Contship Group, we can significantly expand our commitment to train services between China and Italy. In addition, this cooperation gives us the opportunity for the first time to offer our customers pre-carriage and on-carriage within Italy by truck. Through this cooperation, we will advance the digitization of transport processing and the expansion of our European network solutions.”