Amazon's Austrian addition 
The European VGP Group has developed a distribution centre for the online retailer Amazon at VGP Park Graz in Premstätten in Austria. Spanning an area of 62,000 sqm and including a multi-storey carpark with 671 parking spaces, the facility is scheduled to go on stream in... more
Gothenburg on course
Sweden’s port of Gothenburg was less affected by the geopolitical turmoil and economic slowdown in 2023 than other ports. Most cargo sectors saw an uptick, with the container segment taking the lead with 914,000 teu handled. This marks a growth of 3% compared to the previous... more
It takes two to tango 
Expanded range of services on Rhine routes. The choice between rail or inland barge is sometimes limited by non-availability. Now Birsterminal has increased services for each mode of transport for 2024. more
Four weekly roundtrips to Rotterdam
The Austrian OeBB Rail Cargo Group (RCG) will operate scheduled services between Linz (Austria) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands) via Duisburg (Germany), initially offering four round trips per week. With the service, cargo can be transferred within Rotterdam to all maritime... more
Haropa stayed on target in 2023
In Paris, close to the Seine, Haropa Port's deputy general director Kris Danaradjou and its strategic planning director Cédric Virciglio presented the developments in 2023 and gave an outlook on the running year. "We took a unique step to create one port on three sites in... more
Automating paperless customs handling
Kazakhstan has launched a digital platform to improve customs processing at its Chinese frontier. The software is designed for the automatic submission and issuance of transit declarations for goods transported by rail along China - Central Asia and China – Europe routes. It... more
Container flows better than expected
The RWI/ISL Container Throughput Index, which measures global shipping activity, performed better than expected in December 2023, seeing a slight slowdown to 125.1 points from 125.4 points (revised) in November. Container throughput in Chinese ports decreased slightly, with... more
Changes at Chep
Chep has appointed Xavier Garijo to the newly created CEO Americas position, following the announcement that Chep North America’s president, Laura Nador, stepped down on 31 December 2023. Before joining Chep, Garijo was a member of the global executive board for contract... more
An active year for Bertschi
Despite a 15% reduction in sales, the Swiss transport group Bertschi reported several successful projects in 2023. It opened its new chemical logistics centre, with a storage capacity of 25,000 t storage, in Zhangjiagang, China, in mid-2023. Elsewhere in Asia, the group is... more
Piloting wholesales to a new level
Amsterdam-based Wholesale By Vels (WBV) has launched Cargopilot, a trade-only wholesale airfreight booking platform. It differs from existing online booking portals in two respects: firstly, it targets non-Iata freight agents, using WBV’s own Iata licence and Cass... more