RLL Container Report - 31 August 2016
From: John Keir, Ross Learmont Ltd. Email: john.keir@telia.com Date: 31 August 2016
The Heart of the Matter.
From its base in Prague, Metrans serves the main North Sea ports of Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp with regular block train services. More recently, the company expanded its intermodal network southwards to the Adriatic ports of Koper and Rijeka. In order fully to serve the growing customer base in Central and Southern Europe, the Czech company now plans to open a new, purpose-built intermodal facility in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
Never one to follow the herd, Metrans, a subsidiary of Hafen Hamburg, has chosen a location close to the city centre on the banks of the River Danube. The site gives the company good access not only to road and rail but also to the all-important barge services that link many major cities along the river in the Balkans and the Black Sea area. The terminal is situated a mere nine-minute drive from the circular M10 highway.
To the South and East, Hungary shares a common border with many recent or prospective members of the European Union. Former Yugoslav republics, such as Slovenia and Croatia are already members, as is its neighbour to the south-east, Romania. Also linked by the Blue Danube is Bulgaria, while further south lies Greece and the Mediterranean ports. These countries may soon be joined by other former Yugoslav republics and by Albania. This would then place Hungary at the centre of a large and populous territorial addition to the EU. At the same time, it would improve access to the large, deep-water ports along the shores of the Adriatic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea coasts.
It is for this reason, that the EU has granted funds to Hungary to upgrade its road, rail and river links to its various neighbours. As with all the main roads in the region, Hungarian highways are congested with trucks moving between the core countries of the EU and the recent and prospective member states in the Balkans. More funds can be released by Brussels for transport projects once the prospective member states have been formally accepted into the fold. Hungary also has an important secondary role with regard to the EU’s relations with the members of the former Soviet Union. To the east, Hungary shares a common border with western Ukraine, while the Danube gives Hungarian barge operators access not only to the Black Sea but also a small Moldovan port on the left bank of the Danube.
In the future, however, Hungary will play a very important role as the hub of an upgraded road and rail networking linking Hamburg and the ports in the north to Piraeus in Greece. The Port of Hamburg has just taken delivery of three mega shore cranes that will allow the Elbe port to handle vessels of up to 20,000 teu. The Hansa Port is also expanding its Burkhardkai rail terminal, which is the second largest in Europe and which alone can process as many boxes as the entire Port of Rotterdam. Meanwhile to the south, Cosco plans to invest Euro 293 million in the Port of Piraeus to improve the port’s ability to handle greater traffic volumes in terms of containers, passengers and ferry traffic to the Islands in the Aegean Sea.
John Keir, Ross Learmont Ltd.
31 August 2016
Copyright ©, 2016, John Keir