At the Netherland-America Foundation's (NAF) prestigious annual ball on Friday, 18 November in New York, Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP Cargo) presented its Sustainability Award to DHL Global Forwarding.
This award, received by DHL Global Forwarding’s Americas CEO, Tim Robertson, is not only a clear sign of appreciation for the partnership between AFKLMP Cargo and DHL, but also important recognition of DHL Global Forwarding's sustainability leadership in the logistics sector.
Earlier this year, DHL Global Forwarding and Air France KLM Martinair Cargo announced a groundbreaking agreement under which DHL purchased 33 million litres of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from AFKLMP Cargo for the period 2022-2024.
Both parties have now agreed to further intensify this partnership by expanding their focus on SAF to include the collaborative development of other sustainability initiatives. Both parties possess valuable knowledge and expertise. Joining forces in this way allows them to create synergies that will enable decisive action to be taken to increase the sustainability of air-freight chain logistics.
“This award is for everyone at DHL Global Forwarding that is collaborating to make our business more sustainable,” says Tim Robertson, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Americas. “SAF plays an important role in our GoGreen Plus service and ultimately on our way towards reaching our goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and we could not have done it without our partners at Air France KLM Martinair Cargo. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved so far, and cannot wait to see what we’ll continue to achieve together.”
GertJan Roelands, SVP Commercial at AFKLMP Cargo explains: "We are very happy and honoured to have built such a strong partnership with DHL Global Forwarding and specifically in the field of sustainability. This clearly shows that only through a shared vision and tangible collaboration can we bring about the necessary changes in our air freight industry. We are convinced that the willingness of companies to reduce their logistics activities' carbon emissions will increase, as will the commitment to SBti validated targets for 2030 and the ultimate goal of net zero CO₂ by 2050.” “We are seeing that customers who budget for the use of SAF and view it as an investment in sustainability, are more successful in meeting their CO₂ reduction targets for air freight compared to companies who view the use of SAF purely as a logistics cost.”
In 2020, Air France KLM Martinair Cargo was the first air cargo carrier to launch a fully customer-oriented Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) programme. More than 40 companies from all over the world have now joined this programme.
In October, AFKLMP Cargo introduced another novelty with the goSAF option, which allows customers to reduce their carbon emissions per booked shipment by making a direct investment in SAF. This new feature in AFKLMP’s myCargo booking portal, seems to be being widely embraced. In the first week alone, after the feature was introduced, an SAF contribution was added to more than 1000 bookings.
In October 2021, the Air France-KLM Group committed to having its decarbonisation trajectory validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), ensuring that its targets are in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Air France-KLM’s decarbonisation trajectory includes an ambitious plan to renew the Group’s airline fleet with next generation aircraft emitting 20%-25% less CO₂. Searching for greater efficiency in its operations, favouring more direct routes and applying procedures that limit fuel consumption (lighter aircraft, single-engine taxiing, continuous descent) are all part of AFKL’s sustainability efforts. Air France and KLM have set themselves the target of making their ground operations carbon neutral by 2030.
In addition, Air France-KLM is mobilising the entire sector and is committed to developing innovative solutions for aircraft design, maintenance, engines and synthetic fuels, which will gradually lead to carbon-free aviation.
As a division of Deutsche Post DHL Group, DHL Global Forwarding has committed to achieving net zero transport-related emissions by 2050. To achieve this mission DHL recently introduced the GoGreen Plus service. Following the insetting approach, emissions are reduced by replacing the amount of conventional fossil fuel needed with sustainable fuel. Customers can easily pick and choose which parts of their supply chain they want to truly decarbonize. The GoGreen Plus Service can be easily added while booking online, e.g., an air freight shipment via the myDHLi customer platform. The launch of Deutsche Post DHL Group’s decarbonized range of GoGreen Plus services is a crucial milestone in making the global logistics industry greener and more sustainable.
In addition, DHL assesses the sustainability efforts of its partners through the GoGreen carrier evaluation programme, which gives preference to carriers with strong environmental performance. Air France KLM Martinair is one of DHL Global Forwarding’s key carriers and has been one of the top three GoGreen carriers for many years.
Qatar Airways Cargo, the world’s leading air cargo carrier is poised and ready post the COVID pandemic with strategies in place to adapt to the changing environment and customer needs.
The cargo carrier has further boosted its growing network, with increased flight frequencies to multiple popular destinations in the Middle East, Europe and Americas that will benefit its customers’ business globally to meet growing demand this winter season.
Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo said, “We are always ready to adapt to our customer needs and there is a great potential for growth in many regions as our winter schedule changes indicates. We are happy to introduce frequency upgrades and give our customers access to more direct capacity which will ultimately benefit their business. In line with our Next Generation strategy, we will always put customer at the heart of everything we do by continuing to invest in our fleet, infrastructure, network, products, service and technology.”
Qatar Airways Cargo serves over 20 passenger and freighter destinations in the Middle East. The carrier recently launched a new freighter service to Riyadh, the capital and largest city in Saudi Arabia, operating Boeing 777 freighters twice a week, with 100 tonnes cargo capacity each way, per flight. Cargo capacity is also set to increase to and from other Middle Eastern cities, as the airline increases its flights from 2 to 4 for Kuwait, and from 1 to 3 for Muscat by adding two A310 freighters per week to each of these cities.
In Europe, the cargo carrier offers its air freight services to and from 48 destinations, operating both, belly-hold cargo services as well as freighters. The carrier recently launched two new freighter stations in Athens, Greece and Vienna, Austria. Qatar Airways Cargo will operate once a week Boeing 777 freighter to Athens with 100 tonnes of cargo capacity each way, per flight and once a week A310 freighter to Vienna, with over 35 tonnes of cargo capacity each way, per flight.
Effective 15 November 2022, Qatar Airways Cargo has also introduced belly-hold cargo services to Dusseldorf, expanding its network in the European region. The launch of daily flights between the two cities increases cargo capacity from Germany to over 1,500 tonnes each way, each week. The carrier will also be increasing its flights to Amsterdam by adding three weekly freighter flights effective 5 November 2022 and three weekly passenger flights effective 23 December 2022.
Lastly, in the Americas, the airline covers 21 passenger and freighter destinations and has introduced additional frequency to Chicago increasing its freighter flights from 10 weekly to 11 weekly in addition to a daily passenger service.
The cargo carrier recently launched its Next Generation strategy, with digitalization as a key pillar. Qatar Airways Cargo has also pioneered its next generation Digital Experience platform with a revamped, comprehensive, and intuitive cargo customer portal called Digital Lounge bringing added value to the airline’s customers, offering better engagement and interaction, increased productivity and time management, as well as better visibility, transparency and performance monitoring. Qatar Airways Cargo’s customers will benefit from the many enhancements to the portal such as booking, tracking and tracing, account management, and reporting.
TX Logistik AG, which is part of Mercitalia Logistics (FS Italiane Group), intends to further expand its intermodal rail freight transport services between Istanbul and Cologne.
For this purpose, the company is showing its European network at Logitrans Istanbul, Eurasia's largest transport and logistics trade fair, and presenting the current NiKRASA 3.0 handling system of TX Logistik, which makes it easy to load non craneable trailers onto the train.
For TX Logistik, Turkey is a market with good growth prospects for intermodal transports. Therefore, the rail logistics company has launched a first connection in June between Istanbul and Cologne. In cooperation with a traction partner that operates the route between the Halkali Terminal in Istanbul and Curtici in Romania three times a week, several units are currently being loaded each week. In Curtici, these units are then taken over and transferred to the company's own intermodal connection Cologne – Curtici, which TX Logistik currently operates with seven round trips per week.
In 2023, the number of shipments in Turkey is to be further increased. One advantage is the transit time between Cologne and Istanbul, which averages nine days and ideally only seven. According to TX Logistik, there is a growing demand in the Turkish economic area for intermodal transports to Europe, especially among smaller and medium-sized forwarding companies. At Logitrans, which will take place from 16 to 18 November, discussions with this target group are to be deepened and possible plans for 2023 concretised – also by using the NiKRASA transshipment system.
Award-winning air cargo charter business, CharterSync, has enhanced its platform with the integration of RocketRoute, which will provide aircraft profiling and flight planning data to ensure CharterSync offers ultra-accurate transit times instantly.
With RocketRoute offering auto-routing and full monitoring of current and forecasted weather conditions, the integration will enable CharterSync to provide precise flight times, allowing operators to become more effective in planning for fuel burn, while also providing more accurate costs for ad-hoc cargo charters.
RocketRoute will integrate automatically into the CharterSync quoting process, with fields automatically completed to provide accurate timings and remove the need for any manual calculations.
This integration will benefit operators – who will save time on quoting – as well as clients, who will receive more transparent and accurate times and costings more quickly.
Simon Watson, co-founder and director, CharterSync, says: “Creating quotes manually can be a time-consuming process that sometimes leads to human error. Clients also want total confidence in flight times when they are viewing quotes. Our RocketRoute integration addresses these issues and underlines our total commitment to continually improving our platform. This integration is just the start of our partnership with RocketRoute as we work to provide even greater benefits to airlines and freight forwarders and further enhance the game-changing speed, simplicity, and flexibility of CharterSync’s booking process.”
Steven Morgan, Senior Business Development Manager, RocketRoute, says: “We’re proud to partner with CharterSync on instantly providing more accurate flight times through their platform. We’re excited that CharterSync can leverage value from our flight planning optimization engine in advancing their offering. We look forward to growing our partnership and supporting CharterSync’s growth.”
CharterSync’s innovative and customer-focused business model has previously been recognised by its peers in the air cargo and logistics industries, as well as the wider UK business community. The company recently won ‘The Technology Innovation Award’ at the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards ceremony, which took place in London last week. In addition, CharterSync was crowned ‘Air Business of the Year’ at the UK Logistics Awards in December 2021 and won ‘Best Use of Technology’ at the Supply Chain Excellence Awards in November 2021.
The Cathay Pacific Group expects to resume 70% of pre-COVID passenger capacity levels by end of 2023
Group aims to reach pre-pandemic capacity levels by end of 2024; will add about 3,000 flights and reach one-third capacity by end of 2022
The Cathay Pacific Group – comprising passenger airlines Cathay Pacific and HK Express – is committed to restoring passenger capacity and connectivity in the Hong Kong aviation hub to serve the needs of the Hong Kong and international travel markets. It anticipates that the Group will be operating around 70% of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity by the end of 2023 with an aim to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024, ahead of the Asia-Pacific traffic forecast issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Following the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government’s recent adjustments to anti-pandemic measures for travellers and aircrew entering Hong Kong, the Group has already announced the addition of about 3,000 passenger flight sectors from October until the end of December this year.
Chief Executive Officer Augustus Tang said: “The Group is on track to achieve its target of operating up to one-third of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels by the end of 2022. This represents a doubling of the capacity that we offered in August and is approximately eight times the average capacity the airline operated in the first half of 2022.
“As the COVID-19 situation eases, airlines around the world have been rebuilding their capacity. This requires the global aviation ecosystem, including airports, suppliers and our own airlines, to undertake a substantial amount of preparation with regards to crew and ground employees, aircraft reactivation and recruitment. This is a challenge faced by airlines, industry suppliers and airports around the world and one which takes time and robust planning to overcome.
"“We are taking a measured and responsible approach to managing our own road to recovery, with a need to address challenges that are unique to Hong Kong. The city’s borders were closed for much longer than other markets and importantly, aircrew in Hong Kong were uniquely under quarantine constraints that weren’t lifted until September. Despite all this, our recovery trajectory is in line with other carriers that don’t benefit from a domestic market in terms of the time taken since borders began to open.
“Importantly, we have sufficient pilots, cabin crew and operational employees to support our current flight schedules, and we are confident that our ongoing recruitment plans will ensure this remains the case throughout the recovery. The short-term bottlenecks lie in the recertification of pilots who have not been flying regularly for a long period of time and the reactivation of aircraft. We have been bolstering our capabilities to expedite this process.”
The Cathay Pacific Group remains confident about the long-term prospects for the aviation sector in Hong Kong, as it looks forward to the complete removal of all travel constraints by the HKSAR Government to facilitate the full resumption of travel activities both to and from Hong Kong that can enhance the city’s hub connectivity.
Mr Tang added: “Under the 14th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong has an important role to play in the overall development of the country. Notably, the Plan reinforces the importance of strengthening Hong Kong as an international aviation hub. As we continue to increase our passenger flight capacity, we also look forward to the completion of the Three Runway System at Hong Kong International Airport in 2024 which remains pivotal to the long-term future of the hub.
Pharma.Aero has published the White Paper of the latest UAV Project phase that explored the use of drones (UAVs) and its potential as part of the Life Science and Medtech logistic chain, thus interconnecting the traditional and modern airfreight worlds.
In the final part of the project (WP3), the project team investigated an industry case that includes drones in the multimodal process of transporting vaccines with strict cold-chain requirements from the factory in Europe to patients in hard-to-reach regions of Malawi.
In remote areas of Africa, it often takes three days to deliver medicines (by canoe) or to pick up a blood sample and take it to the lab. A drone can do it in less than an hour. In many places in Africa, it takes 4 hours to deliver Oxytocin in an emergency, when the life of a mother giving birth is at risk. A drone can save her life in under 20 minutes.
The lifesaving drones have become a common sight in remote areas of Africa, where people have little if any access to the health care they need and deserve. From the first drone flight on the continent, in 2016, to the world’s first drone delivery of a COVID vaccine with strict cold chain requirements, in Ghana, Africa has proven to be a global leader in the field of drones.
In 2021, Pharma.Aero initiated a project to further explore the drones’ potential as part of the Life Science and Medtech logistic chain, thus interconnecting the traditional and modern airfreight worlds.
What is the next step in pharma transportation by drone? Is it possible, feasible and safe to scale up drone delivery and make it more affordable and sustainable for use in the public health sectors of low- and middle-income countries? How can we better integrate drones into the supply chains?
Pharma.Aero has taken the lead in exploring all these aspects through the UAV Project. The results are now shared with the industry by the publication of the White Paper.
The project’s goal is to offer unprecedented insights by mapping the vaccines’ journey from factory to patients and explore modalities of further integrating the drones. The project team investigated potential directions of optimizing the logistics, thus identifying relevant aspects and factors to be taken into consideration for further research on how and where UAVs are most valuable to the supply chain system.
Pall-Ex has unveiled a unique livery to commemorate being awarded the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold Award by the Ministry of Defence, which recognises the networks ongoing commitment to the armed forces.
Pall-Ex is the only UK palletised freight distribution network to hold the gold accolade and was awarded the honour due to its continued work supporting ex-military personnel via training, careers, and charity fundraising. The company joins an exclusive list of just three Leicestershire organisations that achieved the prestigious Gold accreditation in 2022.
To mark the occasion, the striking cameo-inspired livery was revealed in a special ceremony at the Reserves Forces and Cadet Association black tie event which took place at the National Memorial Arboretum, ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
Pall-Ex Group CEO Kevin Buchanan commented, “We are delighted to reveal this one-of-a-kind livery to mark what is a very special accolade. I speak on behalf of everyone at Pall-Ex when I say we are honoured to hold the ERS Gold Award which recognises our efforts across the business in helping veterans build rewarding careers, with many of our staff having joined us from successful backgrounds within the armed forces.
“The causes we support we hold dearly and being recognised so highly further cements our dedication and commitment to Armed Forces personnel.”
Pall-Ex’s efforts have been recognised as outstanding due to its forces-friendly pledges, including enhanced leave for Reservists and Cadets, and its ongoing fundraising for veterans’ mental health charity Combat Stress.
Combat Stress is the UK’s leading charity for veterans’ mental health and has been Pall-Ex’s Corporate charity partner for the last few years. To commemorate their partnership Pall-Ex was awarded with the Corporate Fundraising Group of the Year award in early 2022 for raising a staggering £35,000 in 2021 alone.
Charity and giving back to the local community is part of Pall-Ex Group’s core values and its penny-a-pallet donation scheme sees thousands of pounds raised each year for a range of different charities. Every single member signs up to pledge a penny from every single pallet that passes through any of Pall-Ex Group’s main transshipment hubs to charity. With thousands passing through daily this amounts to quite a sum and is used to support corporate charity partners, local community projects and school events.
Pall-Ex Group also holds various fundraising events throughout the year, including charity football matches, bake-off competitions, and will also support Combat Stress with their Christmas Carol Service in early December. Pall-Ex Group will also be hosting a Silver Employer Recognition Scheme drinks evening to celebrate businesses throughout Leicester and to support other businesses within the local area going for Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold Award.
The cameo-livery vehicle aptly named ‘Poppy’ will be used for collection and deliveries around the Leicester area and will support Pall-Ex’s corporate division. The design will also be rolled out throughout the network as many of its shareholder members look to become gold accredited in the next few years.
Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing and most environmentally sustainable airline globally[1], has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OMV, the international integrated oil, gas and chemicals company headquartered in Vienna, for the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) between 2023 and 2030.
The MoU gives Wizz Air the opportunity to purchase up to 185,000 metric tons of SAF from OMV. This co-operation ensures that Wizz Air can progress in accordance with its plan for the reduction of CO2 intensity per passenger kilometre.
Today’s announcement builds on Wizz Air’s position as the most sustainable choice of air travel and is a key part of the airline’s environmental strategy to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 25% by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. With the lowest CO2 intensity per passenger kilometre in Europe, one of the youngest fleets in the world, and numerous fuel efficiency initiatives, Wizz Air is already leading the aviation industry to a more sustainable future.
OMV is implementing numerous measures to help deliver its ambitious strategic sustainability goals, and SAF is a key technology for the decarbonization of the aviation industry. The goal involves increasing SAF production to as much as 700,000 tons in 2030. This is in line with OMV's ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 at the latest (for Scopes 1, 2 and 3). To this end, clear medium-term and long-term emission reduction targets have been defined as part of the OMV Strategy 2030.
Owain Jones, Development Officer at Wizz Air, said: “We have achieved our market-leading sustainability position by continued investment in innovative technology and operating the most up-to-date aircraft in the most efficient way. Wizz Air is committed to driving our emissions intensity down by a further 25% by the end of the decade, with the use of SAF playing a significant role in that commitment. Supporting the production and research of SAF technologies is one of our priorities and we are pleased to co-operate with OMV to further reduce the aviation industry's carbon footprint. The new MoU is testament to our commitment to ensuring that by choosing to fly with Wizz Air, our customers are making the most responsible choice of air travel available.”
Nina Marczell, OMV Vice President Aviation, Fuel Distribution & Public Sector: “I am very pleased that the cooperation between OMV and Wizz Air will help us achieve our respective strategic sustainability goals. With Wizz Air we were able to gain a strong international partner. SAF is the most significant path to decarbonizing aviation in the coming decades. Our strategic relationship is enabling the way to a more sustainable aviation future we both want to be part of.”
Logistics company sets ambitious targets / Investment in alternative drives of ten million euros planned / Sustainability report presented
Lauterach, November 14, 2022. As a modern logistics service provider, Gebrüder Weiss has set the goal of gradually reducing the company’s carbon footprint to zero with its sustainability strategy GWcares, aiming to make the company’s logistics facilities climate-neutral by 2030. This is one of the ways in which the company is facing up to its responsibility and contributing to efforts to meet global climate targets. Gebrüder Weiss will be taking a close look at CO₂ emissions at all 180 locations. The company has quantified the current CO₂ emissions and energy consumption of its locations in its current Sustainability Report. These emissions are to be reduced gradually – by ten percent per year.
The sustainability report also outlines important measures to be taken in the quest for climate neutrality and ways in which our modern logistics facilities can harness any and all possibilities available for saving energy and reducing dependence on limited resources. Installing photovoltaic (PV) systems on the roofs of logistics terminals has an important role to play, with 18 such installations already existing at Gebrüder Weiss. Together, these installations generate more than 4,600 megawatt hours of electricity per year and currently meet 18 percent of the group’s electricity needs. The aim is to increase this share by 15 percent each year by further increasing the number of PV installations. Gebrüder Weiss has also installed an energy monitoring system at its locations in Europe to track the effectiveness of these efforts and plans to deploy it worldwide in the coming years.
Investments in alternative drives
Gebrüder Weiss is also increasing the share of alternative drives in heavy-duty transport and developing low-emission solutions for the last mile. In the Greater Vienna metropolitan area, an electric truck is used for short-distance transport, and deliveries are made to end customers in Austria using electric vans. On top of this, one of the world’s first hydrogen (H2) trucks has been in regular operation in Switzerland since January 2021, and there are plans to deploy five more H2 trucks in Germany in 2023. Gebrüder Weiss is also working with partners and competitors in Austria to introduce fuel cell trucks. The Company intends to invest around ten million euros in alternative drive systems by 2025.
Further information on Gebrüder Weiss’ activities in the area of sustainability can be found here: https://sustainability.gw-world.com/sustainablity-report-2021/
About Gebrüder Weiss
Gebrüder Weiss Holding AG, based in Lauterach, Austria, is a globally operative full-service logistics provider with about 8,000 employees at 180 company-owned locations. In the last fiscal year (2021), it posted annual sales of 2.5 billion euros. Its portfolio encompasses transport and logistics solutions, digital services, and supply chain management. The twin strengths of digital and physical competence enable Gebrüder Weiss to respond swiftly and flexibly to customers’ needs. The family-run organization – with a history going back more than half a millennium – has implemented a wide variety of environmental, economic, and social initiatives. Today, it is also considered a pioneer in sustainable business practices. www.gw-world.com
A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk) continues to enhance its omnichannel-fulfilment capabilities in the Philippines, by adding a 100,000 sqm warehouse in Calamba, Laguna.
The ground-breaking ceremony was held on November 9, 2022, and the new facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
An hour’s drive from Manila, the new warehouse will connect to the regional industrial centre where major manufacturers operate. The facility will be operated by the newly formed Maersk omnichannel-fulfilment team, after its successful acquisition of the contract logistics company - LF Logistics. The total area is equivalent to almost three times of LF Logistics’ current multi-service distribution centre in the province of Rizal and will enhance the overall warehouse and distribution footprint further in the Philippines.
"Maersk's strategic ambition is to connect and simplify our customers' supply chains. With combining LF Logistics’ strength in the Philippines and strong expertise in our omnichannel-fulfilment operations, we will extend the scope of our logistics offerings closer to the end-consumers. Expanding the warehousing footprint and omnichannel-fulfilment competence is crucial to our strategic growth, and I’m very glad that we’ll make another step forward with this new facility." Erry Hardianto, Area Managing Director of Maersk Indonesia and Philippines.
The facility will integrate LF Logistics’ key service offerings into Maersk’s product portfolios, including value-added services, distribution services, order management, and end-to-end E-commerce. It will have a 75,000-pallet storage capacity with state-of-the-art distribution centre technologies like pallet shuttles, automated sortation, put-to-light, yard management systems, and track-and-trace capabilities. It will meet the needs for retail, pharmaceutical and E-Commerce customers.
"Building this mega facility in South Luzon enables us to provide a more agile, resilient, and more flexible end-to-end supply chain, complementing the infrastructure and network we have built and sustained over the past two decades in the Philippines. This project will also help create 800 job opportunities for the surrounding communities, aligned with our corporate social responsibility." Jocelyn Ramos, Senior Vice President, Head of Country and Business Development of LF Logistics in the Philippines.
The build-to-specification agreement has been signed with local developer Precos, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Solid Group, Inc., guaranteeing a 15-year lease. Moreover, Maersk endeavours to build the first warehouse in the Philippines to be Gold Certified in LEED rating system (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), promoting sustainability in eco-friendly practices from design to development.
The Egyptian government has awarded the contract to operate the country's first high-speed rail network to Deutsche Bahn and the Egyptian company Elsewedy Electric (EE).
The three parties signed the agreement today at the UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh. The contract, which has an initial term of 15 years, is worth over a billion euros.
DB International Operations (DB IO), a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, will take on the largest rail project in Egypt's history and, with 2,000 route kilometers, the sixth-largest high-speed network in the world. A consortium led by Siemens Mobility will build the infrastructure and supply the passenger trains and freight locomotives.
"We are helping to bring modern mobility to millions of people in Egypt and are ensuring climate-friendly freight transport by rail," said Niko Warbanoff, CEO of the DB E.C.O. Group. "The new rail system will drive Egypt's economic development and help to protect the climate, which will benefit all of us."
The first line of the transport network will connect the metropolitan regions of Alexandria, Cairo and the New Administrative Capital (dubbed the "Suez Canal on rails") as early as 2025. Two additional lines and 60 stations will eventually connect Abu Simbel, Luxor and the Red Sea port of Hurghada to Cairo and the rail network. Once the new network is completed, 90% of Egypt's population will have access to rail. Egypt's population is expected to grow from 105 million to 160 million by 2050, bringing even more congestion to the roads.
The joint venture between DB IO and EE will take over operation of the infrastructure and rolling stock for high-speed, regional and freight services, as well as maintenance of the stations and depots.
Warbanoff: "We are delighted that by operating the new system we will be making a significant contribution to the modal shift to rail and will be actively protecting the climate and supporting Egypt's economic development. In addition to its political relevance, especially for active climate protection and the promotion of economic development, the project offers potential for Strong Rail in Germany in terms of technology cooperation and securing skilled workers."
The new high-performance rail system will be a central pillar of the sustainable expansion of Egypt's public transport infrastructure. In addition to cutting travel time in half for 30 million people as a result of Line 1 alone, the project will also improve traffic safety and curb air pollution.
Germany's rail system will benefit from the mega project as well. The technology and knowledge gained and the insight from the technology cooperation with Siemens Mobility will be put to use in domestic projects. The profits generated will be reinvested in Germany.
DB IO specializes in operating and maintaining rail transport systems and is responsible for DB's international operator projects outside Europe. Following major contracts in Canada and India, the project in Egypt is the third major international transport project awarded to DB IO in 2022.
