GERMANY: Mercitalia Logistics has announced an acquisition that it says will make its TX Logistik subsidiary the second largest rail freight operator in Germany after DB Cargo.
Subject to regulatory approval, the Italian national railway’s freight business is to acquire Hamburg-based Exploris Deutschland Holding and its Via Cargo, HSL Logistik and Delta Rail subsidiaries.
Exploris currently operates about 240 trains/week, carrying steel, gypsum, agricultural products, cars, construction machinery and mineral oil products in Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Switzerland.
It also offers shunting and shipping services in Germany and Poland, and has a driver training academy which TX Logistik said ‘represents an important resource for countering the shortage of qualified personnel’ across the entire rail sector.
TX Logistik said the east–west orientation of Exploris services would complement its own north–south intermodal and combined transport services to provide new opportunities for freight transport to and from Italy.
The 500 Exploris staff will take the number of employees at TX Logistik to 1 200, while its 75 locomotives will be added to the 91 which the business currently deploys. Combined turnover could exceed €500m.
‘This transaction makes us very proud and confirms our great determination in positioning the logistics business in the international arena for the development of imports and exports of our country in support of Made in Italy’, commented Mercitalia Logistics CEO Sabrina De Filippis when the deal was announced on July 27.
