A new terminal for transferring road semi-trailers to and from Modalohr swing-tray wagons has opened in the Mediterranean port of Sète in southern France earlier this month, enabling the frequency of the Calais - Sète piggyback service to be increased from three to five times a week in December.
Completion of the project was announced by the Port of Sète on October 8.
Specialised terminal facilities for handling the Modalohr wagons have replaced reachstackers for loading and unloading trains. It is hoped that the resulting increase in capacity will eventually enable the number of Calais - Sète services to double.
Also calling at Lyon, the services are operated by VIIA, the subsidiary of French National Railways’ (SNCF) freight business Rail Logistics Europe (RLE) that specialises in piggyback trains. Traction is provided by DB Cargo France.
VIIA has invested €10.1m in the new terminal at Sète. An additional €3m was provided by the French government, €3.7m by the Port of Sète and €4.7m by the Occitanie region.
Sète is served by fast freight ferries from Yalova and Izmir in Turkey, and currently handles 130,000 semi-trailers a year. VIIA expects piggyback traffic at the port to eventually rise from 15,000 to 40,000 semi-trailers a year.
There are now seven Modalohr terminals in France, with other locations including Cherbourg, Mâcon, Bayonne and Le Boulou, as well as the currently disused site at Aiton that opened in 2003 to handle the first Modalohr services, running to Italy.
An eighth terminal will open next year at Rungis, the wholesale fruit and vegetable market for the Paris region, and others are planned in the Lyon and Marseille areas.
Traffic at the port of Calais is expected is expected to double from 46,000 to 100,000 semi-trailers a year within five years. This would see piggyback services to Le Boulou increasing from nine to 12 trains a week, and to Mâcon from three to five services a week.
The busiest Modalohr service is operated by CFL Cargo France between Bettembourg in Luxembourg and Le Boulou near the Spanish border, with 27 trains operating in each direction each week.
