Freight group says use of daily rail freight service between Calais and Boulou on the French-Spanish border provides a more economical and sustainable full-load solution.
DSV has launched a new multimodal full-load service between the UK and Spain, saying its use of a daily rail freight service between Calais and Boulou on the French-Spanish border provides a more economical and sustainable solution.
The freight and logistics firm said the service was initially launched to facilitate the movement of goods between the south of England and the Midlands region in the UK and destinations in the Barcelona area. Offering a full door-to-door service, DSV will collect the trailer from the train on arrival at Boulou, and deliver directly to the customer.
“There is a demand for solutions that are not only cheaper than conventional road movement but also offer a greener alternative,” DSV said. “The rail option supports this requirement with a daily service between Calais and Boulou on the French-Spanish border.
“As a large company, it is important for us to make an active effort to reduce any impact we have on the environment and climate; DSV is committed to offering sustainable transport and logistics systems to support this. This service is in addition to our standard driver-accompanied and our double-manned express driver accompanied services for when time matters.”
Denise Clarke, senior director at DSV UK, commented: “We have trialled the route over the past few weeks and as we continuously monitor our carbon footprint, emissions and energy efficiencies, it is evident that utilising rail will make a positive impact on the environment; at the same time, we can offer our customer a better price.”
SNCF Logistics-owned VIIA’s Britannica currently connects Calais to Le Boulou, near Perpignan, on the French-Spanish border, with twice-daily ‘rail motorway’ round trips for trailers. Late last year, it also launched launched a rail freight route for unaccompanied semi-trailers between Calais and Turin, Italy.
Source: Lloyd’s
