Hupac reports challenging conditions for combined transport

The Hupac Group has moved around 975,000 road consignments in combined road/rail transport in the past year.

The declining demand for transport in Europe, price increases in the rail system that are not in line with the market and considerable quality deficits in the German rail network are putting environmentally friendly combined transport under pressure.

Last year, the Hupac Group transported around 975,000 road consignments or 1,866,000 TEU in combined road/rail and maritime hinterland transport.

This represents a decrease of about 130,000 consignments or 11.7% compared to the previous year.

All transport segments of Hupac’s Europe-wide network were affected by this negative development, albeit to varying degrees.
In the core market of transalpine transport through Switzerland, Hupac recorded a comparatively moderate decline of 7.6% to 540,000 road consignments.

This negative development is mainly due to the declining demand for transport in Europe.

“Fortunately, the impact on rail freight transport is limited, as good solutions have been found together with SBB,” said Michail Stahlhut, CEO of the Hupac Group.

“We expect that the forthcoming necessary general overhaul of the German rail network will be organised in a market-compatible manner so as not to nip the politically desired turnaround in transport in the bud.

“We must do everything we can to stop the trend of shifting traffic back from rail to road.”