WEC Lines is launching a new hinterland connection from Moerdijk to Duisburg together with Lidl shipping company Tailwind Shipping Lines.
As of 3 February, WEC Lines, in cooperation with A2B-online, Tailwind Shipping Lines and Danser Group, will offer a new hinterland connection by barge. This new service will start with two departures per week between the CTT terminal in Moerdijk and the Duisburg Gateway Terminal (DGT). Initially, one barge, the “Tranquilo”, will be used.
“With this new barge service, we are offering our customers in the Ruhr region a competitive alternative to road transport to southern Europe and vice versa,” says Brian Vaz, Intermodal Analyst at WEC Lines.
The initial plan is for the “Tranquilo” to depart from Moerdijk on Mondays and Wednesdays and then return down the Rhine from Duisburg on Tuesdays and Fridays. The aim is to initially offer a stable service with a reliable liner service and to increase the frequency of departures at a later date.
WEC Lines is thus expanding its own NWC-CAI service between Moerdijk and the Iberian Peninsula into the hinterland. Tailwind Shipping Lines, the shipping company of discounter Lidl, is also calling at Moerdijk with its own container ship shuttle “Dolphin”, which extends the “Panda” liner service between Asia and the Mediterranean port of Barcelona. The company recently expanded its intermodal activities by rail in southern Europe.
A2B-online is a logistics service provider that has focused on transport solutions between the continent and the UK since its foundation in 2006. A2B-online and Tailwind Shipping Lines reportedly want to expand their network with this new service. The operator of the “Tranquilo” is the Danser Group, which is one of the largest inland shipping companies in Europe with a fleet of 40 units.
