INTRO: Gordon Mott FCIT tells Richard Hope why chartered trains are going to be riding the Freightways before open access emerges
As Assistant Vice President International Development for CSX Transportation, and a director of NDX, Gordon Mott is well placed to help rail industry colleagues hack a path through the institutional barriers and historical baggage that obstruct the efficient flow of freight trains across Europe.
With 30 years’ experience in the highly competitive US rail freight environment behind him, Mott was instrumental in establishing NDX last year as a joint venture between German Railway (50%), Netherlands Railways (25%) and CSX (25%). ’Our first intermodal shuttle started up on January 2 running 10 round trips a week between Rotterdam’s Delta Terminal and Antwerpen’s Interferry Terminal.’
On this busy route, the NDX shuttle transferring mainly deep sea containers between two hubs is competing head-on for business with similar operations that include Intercontainer-Interfrigo’s Delta Express, for example.
Somewhat closer to the long term objectives of NDX is the Rotterdam - München (Riem) shuttle; this commenced on January 27, and operates five times a week. As continental as well as maritime loads are carried, the München train originates at the Delta Terminal and picks up additional loads at the Rail Service Centre (p401).
Mott says NDX ’offers a door-to-door service with a single bill of lading, and we do that by chartering trains through the state railways. As part of that charter, or separately, we arrange for wagons, contract for terminal handling, and use an agent for the trucking. Our aim is also to have available swap bodies or piggyback trailers for customers who require them.’
The third NDX service is scheduled to begin on June 2, running three times a week between Hamburg (Billwerder) and Milano (Melzo). Neither this nor the Rotterdam - München route follow established maritime container flows, since Milano is normally served through Rotterdam and München through German ports. Mott points out that ’in both lanes we will be dependent to a significant degree on continental business in addition to modest amounts of maritime tonnage that currently moves by truck.’
He stresses that NDX is ’port-neutral’ and is not in the business of favouring one port over another. ’We intend, over time, to provide service from all the major ports, and we want to remain on good terms with them all.’
This highlights an important difference between NDXand the clutch of operators chartering intermodal shuttle trains out of the North Sea ports is that it has set its sights firmly on freight moving within Europe. ’Our initial focus is on maritime boxes just for the practical reason that they are much more concentrated’, says Mott. ’But we clearly see the bigger potential - and our longer term market - as being continental business.’
Does that mean NDX intends to exploit EU Directive 91/440 and run its own trains? ’We take a pragmatic view. To compete with trucking on inland routes for continental business, we have to be even more efficient than we are now. If we can do that by working with the state railways, we have no intrinsic interest in running trains ourselves.’
Mott concedes that ’open access and the fallout from 91/440 do at least provide some market leverage. It does allow us to say "if you’re not interested we’ll do it ourselves" - but obviously, the threat has to be credible, and we will do whatever we can and need to do to make it so. The decision will be made purely on economic factors because our only interest, at the end of the day, is to run a successful business and make money.’
The frontier problem
Delays at frontiers worry NDX, and the situation must improve if is to compete successfully for east - west traffic. ’Its a mess!’ Mott exclaims in evident frustration. ’Everyone is aware of it, but if there were easy solutions we would have seen them implemented already. We are working on ways of getting more locomotives running through, but they have been changing locos at the border for so long that it is not a terribly inefficient process - the savings are not as dramatic as you might think.’
Mott sees the failure to co-ordinate national freight timetables, resulting in hours of wasted time at frontiers, as ’a much bigger question. If I were to pick one area where people should focus their efforts, that would clearly be the place.’
He is less certain about exactly where the difficulties lie. ’I can’t see inside their logic, but it would involve more work and a degree of co-ordination that doesn’t exist right now. I don’t think anyone is actively resisting timetable co-ordination; they are just not working on a way to implement it efficiently.’
If ’timetabling should be the number one target for Freightways’, the second is ’co-ordinated management for through routes.’ Mott is not sure quite how this would work when fragmentation of vertically integrated railways is the current fashion in Europe, but he rejects the EC’s idea of a supranational body managing the EU’s railways as impractical; ’it has to be done on a route-by-route basis.’
Invited to comment on how individual countries are responding pressure for a liberalised, competitive market in rail freight, he picks out the Netherlands and Sweden as ’furthest ahead’ with ’Britain in a league by itself.’
He believes the senior management of DB ’want and are truly committed to change’, citing as evidence their willingness to take the biggest share in NDX. The commitment of middle management is less clear, though this may simply reflect a lack of understanding of how to go about creating change.
’We have a very good working relationship with the Belgians’, but ’the French have a unique labour problem - and maybe they are just being more honest than some of the others about what their intentions are.’
Americans could team up
Given the fact that Germany and Britain are major trading partners, it is remarkable that rail traffic between them is negligible. DB’s pricing strategy, which traditionally favoured Germany’s North Sea ports as a matter of national policy, is generally considered to be the main factor. Interest by Ed Burkhardt, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of English Welsh & Scottish Railway, in using NDX as a means of penetrating the German market was reported in RG 5.97 p269.
Mott confirms that ’EWS is interested in getting into Germany and we are certainly talking to Ed. I suspect we will wind up with situations where we compete for business, and other situations where we co-operate. Actually, they are a group that we feel very comfortable with. One thing CSX and Wisconsin Central can bring to Europe is a uniquely American approach to on-rail competition. We are used to competing and co-operating simultaneously with other rail operators, and we know how to draw a line around common interest issues that make us collectively more efficient as an industry. That’s the kind of relationship that we feel in our contacts with EWS.’ o
We intend, over time, to provide service from all the major ports
Gordon Mott
NDX Intermodal
