Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA (ICF) was an internationally active logistics service provider. The company had its operational headquarters in Basel and its legal headquarters in Brussels. Intercontainer specialized in intermodal container based transport. Intercontainer was created by the principal national railway companies of Europe, and these continued to be its principal shareholders, as well as being principal suppliers of traction and network access to the European national rail networks.
During the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century the business underwent a strategic rationalization. Concentration focused more than before on linking the dynamic landlocked economies of central western Europe, notably Switzerland and Austria, with major European north-western seaports of Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven und Hamburg, as well as the longer inland freight routes within eastern and south-eastern Europe and container freight to the CIS. The business was supported by a company fleet of approximately 2,300 rail wagons. In Switzerland the enterprise was registered as a railway company, with its principal activity given as "Operateur Kombiverkehr" (Operator of Combined (intermodal) transport). [1]
In 2007 Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA employed approximately 100 staff, and achieved a turnover of €140 Million, with a traffic volume equivalent to 415,800 Standard TEU (unit)s. By this time the volume was split between transport to and from sea ports, and transport between land-locked logistics centres, approximately in the ratio 50:50.
Intercontainer was established, originally, as a not for profit cooperative partnership between principal European rail companies, in 1967. In 1993 the business acquired and operations were pushed together with those of another not for profit cooperative partnership called Interfrigo which had been founded in 1949 and specialised in timely refrigerated rail transport of high volume goods, notably bananas carried from the port of Rotterdam to principal European markets such as Germany and Switzerland. The resulting combination now became known as Intercontainer-Interfrigo. In 2003 the company was converted into an "Aktiengesellschaft" (a form of Joint-stock company) as defined under Belgian law. [2] [3]
On 26 November 2010 the owners placed the business in liquidation with the stated intention of minimizing disruption to customers by transferring operation of the company's 145 or so weekly trains to the rail companies themselves.
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers. The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another—container ships, rail transport flatcars, and semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The handling system is completely mechanized so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks. All containers are numbered and tracked using computerized systems.
DB Cargo is an international transport and logistics company with a registered office in Mainz and a further administrative office in Frankfurt am Main. It was founded as part of the second stage of the reform of the German railway system (Bahnreform) in the 1990s. DB Cargo is now responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn in Germany and on a global level. Sigrid Evelyn Nikutta took on the role of CEO of DB Cargo in 2020.
An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship to rail to truck – without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well. These containers are known under a number of names, such as simply container, cargo or freight container, ISO container, shipping, sea or ocean container, sea van or (Conex) box, container van, sea can or c can.
Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation, without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damage and loss, and allows freight to be transported faster. Reduced costs over road trucking is the key benefit for inter-continental use. This may be offset by reduced timings for road transport over shorter distances.
Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
A dry port is an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport, operating as a centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations.
Norfolkline was a European ferry operator and logistics company owned by Maersk. It provided freight ferry services on the English channel, Irish Sea, and the North Sea; and passenger ferry services on the English channel and Irish Sea; and logistics services across Europe. Norfolkline employed more than 2,200 employees in 13 countries across Europe, operating out of 35 different locations.
PKP Cargo is a logistics operator and a part of the PKP Group in Poland. It is the largest railway freight carrier in Poland and second largest in the European Union. PKP Cargo is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The company's largest shareholder is PKP S.A. with a 33,01% share.
SBB Cargo is a subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) specialising in railfreight and is operated as the Freight division. Swiss Federal Railways is a former state-owned and -controlled company that was transformed in 1999 into a joint-stock company under special legislation following the first Swiss railway reform and divided up into three independent divisions: Passenger, Freight and Infrastructure. The headquarters of Swiss Federal Railways SBB Cargo AG, the Freight division's official designation, are in Olten. In 2013, SBB Cargo had 3,061 employees and achieved consolidated sales of CHF 953 million. In Switzerland, SBB Cargo is the market leader in rail freight, transporting over 175,000 tons of goods every day. This corresponds to the weight of 425 fully loaded jumbo jets.
Containerlift is a freight transport company in the United Kingdom. Containerlift introduced the sidelifter transport concept widely used in Australia and New Zealand to the UK.
Husa Transportation Group is a group of railfreight, logistics and rail services companies founded in 1998, the group's main business arm on foundation was ACTS Nederland BV (ACTS), founded 1989, an open access freight operator in the Netherlands.
Access America Transport was a third-party logistics provider of transportation and logistics services. The company, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, operated nine offices and serviced customers throughout North America. Access America's services included: truckload shipping, less than truckload shipping, intermodal, specialized transportation, and supply chain management. Access America Transport was one of the fastest growing transportation and logistics service provider in North America.
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, known until 2005 as Hamburger Hafen- und Lagerhaus-Aktiengesellschaft, and prior to that as Hamburger Freihafen-Lagerhaus Gesellschaft (HFLG) since 1885, is a German logistics and transportation company specialising in port throughput and container and transport logistics.
RAIL4CHEM was a German rail freight transport company, and the parent company of a number of European subsidiary rail freight transport companies including rail4chem Benelux B.V. (Rotterdam), the rail4chem transalpin AG (Basel) and Fer Polska S.A. (Warsaw).
Veolia Cargo was a European rail freight transportation company that operated mainly in France and Germany. On 2 September 2009, the company was acquired by Eurotunnel and SNCF, the deal being finalised on 1 December 2009.
Toll Domestic Forwarding (TDF) is a division of the Toll Group specialising in freight forwarding by road, rail and sea within and between Australia and New Zealand.
Contargo GmbH & Co. KG is an internationally active logistics service provider performing trimodal transport between the seaports and the European hinterland and providing all auxiliary services, such as empty container depots and repairs. Contargo transports 2.1 million TEU annually in its network along the Rhine and its main tributaries up to Switzerland.
Bowmans Rail is an Australian railway operator hauling freight in South Australia.
Lamprecht Transport is a Swiss transport and logistics company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. There are 6 branches in Switzerland and 9 branches in the United States under its American subsidiary American Lamprecht Transport. As one of the main logistics companies in Switzerland, it has been in existence for more than 70 years.
