For more freight traffic on Italy's rails: in mid-May, VTG delivered the first 40 of a total of 60 newly built wagons to its customer, MEDWAY Italia. The state-of-the-art, six-axle, 80′ Sggrs(s) wagons have been especially designed to meet the customer's needs and optimized for connecting transport in maritime traffic – a novelty on the Italian market and a welcome addition to the MEDWAY fleet, which has comprised of various other wagon types for several months now. "We are pleased to have delivered the first custom-built wagons to our customer in Bologna on time, despite the current challenging situation due to COVID-19. Together with MEDWAY Italia, we are making a valuable contribution to more efficient, and therefore more attractive, rail freight transport in Italy and Europe," says Jakob Oehrstroem, Managing Director and Head of Center of Competence Intermodal at VTG Rail Europe GmbH.
Italian rail network expansion
MEDWAY Italia and MEDLOG Italia, the logistics branch of MSC, have jointly set themselves the goal of developing an extensive and flexible railway network to strengthen freight transport in Italy even further. This is made possible not least by the cooperation with VTG, which is providing a total of around 200 rail freight cars for the project. The cooperation is already bearing its first fruits: currently, 30 round trips per week are already being offered - including the most important ports and hubs in northern Italy. This has enabled transport to be shifted from road to rail, leading to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.
About MEDWAY Italia
MEDWAY Italia was founded in 2020 as a rail freight operator to support cargo shippers and receivers in Italy. It is part of the cargo division of MSC Group, a global business engaged in the shipping and logistics sector. MSC Group was founded by Gianluigi Aponte in 1970 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. A world leader in container shipping, MSC has a fleet of 550 ships and more than 70,000 staff worldwide. It has a diversified portfolio of cargo activities including ocean shipping, overland transportation, logistics and a growing portfolio of port terminal investments. It is also the parent company of MSC Cruises and various passenger ferry businesses.
About VTG:
VTG Aktiengesellschaft is one of Europe’s leading railcar leasing and rail logistics companies, with a fleet of more than 95,000 railcars. VTG offers full service, providing tank cars, intermodal cars, standard freight cars and sliding wall cars. In addition to the leasing of railcars, the Group offers comprehensive multimodal logistics services, mainly around rail transport and global tank container transports.
With the combination of its three interlinked divisions Railcar, Rail Logistics and Tanktainer, VTG offers its customers a high-performance platform for the international transportation of their freight. The Group has many years of experience and focused expertise, in particular in the transport of liquid and sensitive goods. Its customers include numerous well-known companies from almost every industrial sector, including the chemical, petroleum, automotive, paper and agricultural industries.
In the 2019 financial year, VTG generated revenue of EUR 1,221 million and operating profit (EBITDA) of EUR 512 million. Via its subsidiaries and affiliates, the company, which has its head office in Hamburg, operates primarily in Europe, North America, Russia and Asia. On December 31, 2019, VTG had 1,750 employees worldwide.