RSC Terminal Rotterdam marks an important milestone

Rail Service Centre (RSC) Rotterdam has racked up 25 years of intermodal container transshipment. On the eastern side of the Port of Rotterdam, far and away the biggest deep water port in Europe, RSC has loaded and unloaded intermodal trains running to and from locations all across Europe since 1994. On October 17, around 100 guests paid tribute to that feat at a ceremony at Rotterdam’s De Kuip stadium.

Wim Visser, Head of the Supervisory Board, and Managing Director Edward Koudijzer reminded attendees how the terminal began. The starting gun was fired (literally) in 1994 when Dutch Transport Minister Annemarie Jorritsma shot off a cannon. After that, intermodal logistics in Rotterdam were never the same. Up until then, freight wagons had been loaded everywhere at the port and then brought to Kijfhoek in the eastern part of the city, where trains were formed. RSC centralised these activities and pooled them in one location known as Eemhaven. In those days, the facility had a modest four tracks and two gantry cranes.

Its capacity has since doubled, and nowadays, working around the clock to handle 300,000 load units per year is a piece of cake. Dozens of times a day, containers, swap bodies and semi-trailers are transshipped from freight wagons to trucks or vice versa. There is also a short sea link by ship through the neighbouring RST terminal. RSC’s portfolio also includes services such as first and last mile on trucks, agency services, customs clearance and empty container logistics. The centre has rail links to destinations all over Europe.

This is not yet the end of the terminal’s development, Managing Director Koudijzer stressed: “There is still a great deal of ocean and continental freight that can be moved onto rail. RSC is poised to absorb that growth. To that end, we are working on a new, modern terminal management system and better digitalisation of our processes.”

RSC, coupled with its services, is an essential component of intermodal rail freight transport at the Port of Rotterdam. The port’s market share is expected to rise in the coming years from 11 per cent in 2016 to 20 per cent by 2030.

DB Cargo has a 51 per cent stake in RSC. The remaining 49 per cent is divided up among logistics providers Bertschi, Hoyer and Hupac.

For more information visit www.dbcargo.com

4th November 2019