Europe: New Valencia-Rotterdam fresh produce rail link begins operating
A new fresh produce direct rail connection between Valencia in Spain and Rotterdam in the Netherlands has begun operating.
The dedicated, temperature-controlled CoolRail service began operating from May 6 and will transport fresh fruit and vegetables between the locations three times a week.
Transporting goods using this direct rail link is just as fast as road transport, but far more sustainable, as a CO2 reduction of 70% -90% is realised.
It is an initiative of Euro Pool System, a provider of logistics services and reusable standard packaging in the European food supply chain. Parties from the retail, logistics and fruit and vegetable sectors are also participating in this sustainable initiative.
Around 42 containers will travel between the stations, at a frequency of three times a week during 48 weeks a year.
"Following extensive preparations and the first pilot run, we are now taking the giant step towards drastically reducing the carbon footprint associated with fresh produce transport," according to Gerjo Scheringa, CEO of Euro Pool Group.
The intention is to grow the initiative and create CoolRail rail links to Germany, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.
Spain is the major trading partner of northwestern Europe for the import of fresh fruit and vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and oranges.
Bakker Barendrecht has been involved in the CoolRail initiative from the very start and developed this rail link between Spain and the Netherlands in cooperation with Euro Pool System.
Euro Pool System works with the following partners: Shuttlewise, Bakker Barendrecht/Albert Heijn, Visbeen, Kloosterboer, DailyFresh, EasyFresh, Primaflor, Bollo, Agroiris, Fruveg, TobSine, Pozo Sur and Samskip.
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