Spanish rail-sea hub will see more traffic from Asia thanks to MSC
MSC has revived its DRAGON service connecting Asia with the Hutchison Ports BEST terminal at the port of Barcelona. The terminal is one of Southern Europe’s most rail-oriented port terminals, serving the Spanish and European hinterlands with intermodal links.
This is not the first time MSC has linked the BEST terminal in Barcelona with Asia. The company used to run the same service in pre-covid times; however, it was forced to stop it due to low demand during the epidemic.
Through this service, the Spanish market can export containers to Shanghai and Singapore while importing from the same destinations and others like Ningbo and Yantian. In this sense, the rail capabilities of Barcelona’s BEST terminal can be enhanced for imports and exports. Since this is the terminal’s fourth sea connection to Asia, rail could become busier, forwarding Silk Road volumes to and from the Spanish and European hinterlands.
A rail-dedicated terminal
One of the strongest characteristics of the BEST terminal is rail. While it can simultaneously serve multiple and large ships, it also has eight rail tracks and an extensive network of inland destinations which include regular services to and from several Spanish locations, but also services linking to Lisboa in Portugal, and Perpignan, Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse, Paris and Lille in France. The terminal’s operator claims that because of its rail capabilities, it should be considered one of Southern Europe’s most important intermodal logistics hubs.
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