POLAND: The Port of Gdynia’s Baltic Container Terminal has joined the EU-backed COMODALCE initiative to upgrade intermodal operations, and will participate in a pilot for electronic exchange of wagon and freight handling activity data.
The ‘Enhancing COordination in multiMODAL freight transport in Central Europe’ programme involves the integration of BCT’s terminal operating system with wider systems at the port, and transitioning from traditional methods of communication such as paper documents, phone calls and faxes to an electronic format.
Rail now has a 30% share of annual container traffic at BCT, which handles 250 intermodal trains from 13 operators each month. These serve all major destinations in Poland, as well as the Baltic – Adriatic Corridor VI.
‘COMODALCE represents a major opportunity to drive cost and qualitative efficiencies’, said BCT CEO Wojciech Szymulewicz. ‘It presents a new dimension through which we can further streamline intermodal train reception and despatch. Its introduction alongside continuing innovation in the areas of infrastructure and equipment promises to deliver big dividends with significant benefits passing on to importers and exporters.’
- One of Freightliner PL’s Newag Dragon electric locomotives with a last-mile diesel engine recently ran to the BCT site for the first time, operating a new intermodal service from Brzesko, 60 km east of Kraków. ‘The Dragon locomotive, with its ability to easily switch from electric traction to diesel power, was able to arrive directly at BCT without the time-consuming and costly requirement to be swapped for a smaller shunting loco’, said Szymulewicz.
