Lineas Intermodal has been running a new regular service for 3MCT, a multimodal container terminal in the Belgian town of Westdorpe, just across the Dutch border along the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal. The railway line connects to the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge, Belgian gateways to the deep-sea markets.

The service has been operative since February and runs three times per week. After the train deprarts from the 3MCT terminal in Westdorpe, it heads for to the Deurganck quay on the Left Bank in Antwerp (quay 1742 on Mondays and Wednesdays, quay 1700 on Friday). The same train is also used flexibly to the Cosco Shipping Ports in Zeebrugge.

Vlaeynatie

3MCT is a subsidiary of Vlaeynatie and recently took over the activities of Swagemakers Intermodaal Transport. For this route, Vlaeynatie resolutely opted for a further expansion of a multimodal system via 3MCT, Lineas noted.

“The delivery of containers by inland shipping is at times highly susceptible to congestion on the waterfront of the large terminals at the Deurganck dock. In addition, we try to avoid road transport as much as possible due to traffic congestion. An efficient rail connection proved the better solution”, said Dirk Vercruyssen from Vlaeynatie.

Modal shift

According to Vercruyssen the three trains per week keep about 19 thousand trucks of the road between North Sea Port and the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge per year.

“The new regular service is a good example of how, together with our customers, we can realise the modal shift of freight traffic onto the railways”, says Sam Bruynseels, managing director of Lineas Intermodal. “By using the railways for all our transport between the major ports, we are taking concrete action to counter mobility problems.”