Samskip Adds Northern Netherlands Entry Point to Swedish Rail

Samskip launches new five times weekly rail connection between Coevorden in the north of the Netherlands and Nässjö, Sweden, in second significant Swedish service enhancement in September 2019.

Already the leading intermodal operator between mainland Europe and Sweden, the new link is Samskip’s first direct Sweden-Netherlands rail service, and the first direct unitized rail freight Netherlands-Nässjo service altogether.  

Coevorden strengthens multimodal options by creating a new entry point into the pan-European Samskip network, according to Remco Leijgraaff, Samskip Sales Manager Rail Network. “It gives shippers and receivers in the northern Netherlands easy access to rail services into Nässjo, where rail lines pointing in six directions meet, and therefore into the rest of Sweden and parts of Scandinavia,” he says.

Gert-Jan Meijer, Samskip Trade Manager Sweden says “Samskip controls the full scope of rail execution between The Netherlands and Sweden” via arrangement with partners Hector Rail, Skane Rail and Euroterminal Coevorden.

“We are also doing more than simply adding a new train stop, because Coevorden creates the opportunity for expansion for the Duisburg–Nässjö shuttle and for intermodal loads moving south and east to/from Duisburg," says Meijer. Coevorden is fully set up to support fast turnaround terminal-terminal and door-door transport options for ISO containers including 45ft high cubes and mega-trailers of up to 13.6m in length, he says.

With growth in Sweden-Netherlands-Germany routes especially strong in hygiene products, automotive parts and electronics over the last three years, Samskip has responded strongly by investing in 3m height 13.6m length mega trailers. Clients at both ends of the Dutch-Swedish rail connection engage fully with the 50-tonne payload advantage available to multimodal terminal users that over-the-road services are not entitled to, he says.

“In both markets, shippers and receivers discriminate in favor of transport options that achieve lower CO2 emissions and that is a core advantage for multimodal,” says Meijer.    

Earlier this month. Samskip launched a new four-times weekly rail shuttle link between Duisburg and Falköping, Sweden, in a significant shift in focus for that part of its unitized services connecting into Sweden’s southern industrial heartland.