STRATEGIES Combined Transport International Transportation | Collection 2020 6 Semi-trailer on rail in Germany The driver of a modal shift? Modal shift, Semi-trailer, Combined transport Over the past ten years, rail has demonstrated a steady increase (from 17.7 % to 18.6 %) in the total transport performance in Germany. The continental Combined Transport (CT) market segment made a significant contribution to this. In 2017, around 40 % of the total rail transport performance was performed in the CT sector. In this article, the development of loading units in CT in the period 2008 to 2017 in Germany is presented. The importance of the craneable semi-trailer as a loading unit with the most dynamic growth is derived. The possible background for this development is discussed. Eugen Truschkin O ver the last 15 years road transportation has a stable and dominant position with approx. 75 % of the total share on road performance (in tkm) among further transport modes in Europe [1]. In the case of Germany, 71 % of the total road performance in 2018 - approximately 227 billion tkm was processed via semi-trailers [2]. Hence, semitrailers are considered to be a dominating loading unit in the continental transportation segment. Consistent with the EU-goals to shift more than 50 % freight from road to rail or waterborne transport for longer distances (>300 km) to 2030 [3] enhanced marketing activities from the providers of so called horizontal transshipment technologies were observed in the late 2000s [4]. The target group of the technologies present the non-cranable semi-trailers, which share was estimated to be around 95 % of the total amount of semi-trailers in 2013 [5]. Supported by these technologies, non-cranable semi-trailers are able to access the rail transport market. In parallel, cranable semitrailers (vertical transshipment via gantry cranes or reach-stackers) have demonstrated a constant increase in the combined transport in the recent years. The goal of this article is to derive the current picture in the continental combined transportation via semi-trailers in Germany in order to better understand the role of each type of the transshipment in today’s transportation and the reasons behind these developments. Trailer transshipment in the Rostock seaport Photo: Eugen Truschkin Combined Transport STRATEGIES International Transportation | Collection 2020 7 Overview and discussion of market developments Currently, the technologies for horizontal transshipment have not yet established themselves widely within the market. However, the positive dynamics can be observed by the market-leaders in this segment. The Leipzig-based CargoBeamer AG operates the “CargoBeamer Alpin” train on the route Kaldenkirchen/ Venlo (Netherlands) via Cologne (Germany) to Domodossola (Italy). The company has just recently received a financial subsidy of 7 million EUR for the transshipment terminal Calais in 2019. The transshipment terminal will enable the rail transport of semi-trailers via Calais from and to the British Isles [6]. The Lohr company with its Modalohr technology, possess four terminals today (terminals Aiton and Boulou in France, terminal Orbassano in Italy and terminal Bettemburg in Luxemburg); four more are under construction (one of them also in Calais addressing the same route as CargoBeamer) in Europe [7]. To get a better picture of the market diffusion of horizontal transshipment, an analysis of the statistics in the combined transportation is given below. In the case of Germany (see figure 1), following observations can be derived: • Increase of the rail share from 17.7 % in 2008 to 18.6 % in 2017 • The share of accompanied transport (ROLA) decreases • The share of combined transport on rail transport increases steadily from 28.6 % in 2008 to almost 40 % in 2017 • Increase of unaccompanied semi-trailers from 10.8 % to 31.2 % in the period from 2008 to 2017 As a result, an increasing interest to the non-accompanied transport of semi-trailers via rail is obvious. As pictured in figure 2 the driver for the increase of the share of non-accompanied semi-trailers on combined transport results to the major part from import, export and transit transports. This can be explained by higher competitiveness of combined transport against road transport on longer distances. Today, the non-accompanied transportation of semi-trailers in Germany is mostly realized by cranable trailers. The total amount of transported semi-trailers in Germany in combined transport in 2017 accounted to 941,000, whereof 10,837 (1.1 %) are non-cranable trailers, which were transported via CargoBeamer technology [12, 14]. One of the reasons for this development is the market consolidation in the road transport sector. According to the Federal Office for Goods Transport the number of transport companies in Germany in 2015 has decreased by 9.3 % in the period 2010- 2015 (4.625 companies, most of them with up to 9 employees, have closed their businesses). In the same period, the number of semi-trailers in ownership of transport companies with a total payload >24,000 kg has decreased by 4.6 % (from 206,627 to 197,019) [15, 16]). Hence, the structure of the transportation market in Germany is undergoing a slow change with an increasing number of larger companies. At the same time, the larger the company, the more attractive combined transport becomes [17]. Increasing efficiency of the combined transport in terms of its competitiveness both for price and service level compared to road transport in longer distances can be seen as another reason. In addition, an increasing awareness of how to organize the combined transport operations among forwarding companies should be mentioned. As a consequence, companies start to increase the share of cranable semi-trailers in their fleets. The decision to invest in a cranable semi-trailer enhances the mode choice flexibility by adding combined transportation in to the mode choice decision portfolio. Further reasons, which promote the attractiveness of combined transport are the increase of driver-shortage, lower maintenance costs for semi-trailers in combined transport compared to road transport, exemption of regulatory policies (e. g., night driving ban, mandatory rest hours for drivers), as well as the reduction of CO 2 emissions. Figure 1: Developments in continental combined transport (in tkm) in Germany 2008 to 2017 Destatis [8 to 13] Figure 2: Developments in continental non-accompanied combined transport (in tkm) in Germany 2008 to 2017 Destatis [8 to 13] STRATEGIES Combined Transport International Transportation | Collection 2020 8 Conclusion Summarizing the above, the following can be concluded. Overall, the desired modal shift in Europe from road to rail is currently happening at a rather slow pace. The major dynamics in the rail transport development in Europe come from the continental combined transport with an increase of 32.5 % in the period from 2005 to 2016 [1]. Hereby, the continental combined transport via cranable semi-trailers demonstrates the strongest increase among other loading units (container, swap-bodies, non-cranable semi-trailers, trucks). However, progress can also be observed in the segment of noncranable semi-trailer executed by horizontal transshipment technics, yet playing a minor role compared to conventional vertical transshipment of cranable semi-trailers. More companies seem to discover the benefits of an additional option in the transportation - combined transport via semitrailers. The market consolidation is one of the reasons - the larger the company, the easier its access to rail. Transport companies invest in cranable semi-trailers to benefit from the increasing mode choice flexibility and attractive economic, social and environmental conditions provided by the combined transport in longer distances. To accelerate the ongoing modal shift, fostering a strong rail system for Germany is the purpose of Deutsche Bahn. It is understood, unless we shift traffic largely to a strong rail network, we will not be able to achieve our climate targets. One of the goals of the strategy “Strong Rail” is to raise the market share of rail freight transport from 18 % to 25 % - the equivalent of 13 million fewer truck trips per year in Germany. The increase of competitiveness of the rail network is realized by a set of defined measures, among others, the modernization of rail infrastructure, construction and expansion of lines and nodes, technological innovation and digitalization of the network, better management of capacity. Against this background, further positive development in the modal shift of semi-trailers from road to rail in the next years can be expected. ■ REFERENCES [1] UIC (2019): 2018 Report on Combined Transport in Europe [2] Federal Motor Transport Authority (2018): Verkehr deutscher Lastkraftfahrzeuge (VD) Verkehrsaufkommen Jahr 2018 [3] European Commission (2011): White Paper on Transport. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg [4] Truschkin, E.; Elbert, R.: (2013): Horizontal transshipment technologies as enablers of combined transport: Impact of transport policies on the modal split. Transportation Research Part A 49 (2013), pp.-91-109 [5] Truschkin, E. (2013): Wirksamkeit von verkehrspolitischen Maßnahmen bei der Einführung von horizontalen Umschlagtechnologien. Verlag Dr. Kovac. Hamburg [6] CargoBeamer (2019a): 7m € funding from the EU for the CargoBeamer ´rail motorway´ terminal in Calais. https: / / www.cargobeamer.eu/ 7m-from-the-EU-for-the-CargoBeamer-rail-motorwayterminal-in-Calais-852891.html [7] Modalohr (2019): Terminals under construction. Projected terminals. https: / / lohr.fr/ lohr-railway-system/ the-lohr-system-terminals/ [8] Destatis (2009): Verkehr. Eisenbahnverkehr 2008 [9] Destatis (2011): Verkehr. Eisenbahnverkehr 2010 [10] Destatis (2014): Verkehr. Eisenbahnverkehr 2013 [11] Destatis (2016): Verkehr. Eisenbahnverkehr 2015 [12] Destatis (2018): Verkehr. Eisenbahnverkehr 2017 [13] Destatis (2019): Goods transport, Transport, performance. https: / / www.destatis.de/ EN/ Themes/ Economic-Sectors-Enterprises/ Transp o r t / G o o d s - T r a n s p o r t / T a b l e s / g o o d s t r a n s p o r t l r . html#fussnote-1-62396 [14] CargoBeamer (2019b): Major milestones within the corporate development. https: / / www.cargobeamer.eu/ 2019-06-03_History_ENpdf-852853.pdf [15] Federal Office for Goods Transport (2012): Struktur der Unternehmen des gewerblichen Güterkraftverkehrs und des Werkverkehrs. Band USTAT 17, November 2010. Bundesamt für Güterverkehr, Köln [16] Federal Office for Goods Transport (2016): Struktur der Unternehmen des gewerblichen Güterkraftverkehrs und des Werkverkehrs. Band USTAT 18, November 2015. Bundesamt für Güterverkehr, Köln [17] Truschkin, E.; Elbert, R.; Günther, A.: (2014): Is transport subcontracting a barrier to modal shift? Empirical evidence from Germany in the context of horizontal transshipment technologies. Business Research, 7, pp. 77-103 Eugen Truschkin, Dr. DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH, Logistics Consulting, Berlin eugen.e.truschkin@ deutschebahn.com Transit of a DB Cargo freight train with class 185 and freight of DB Schenker in multimodal transport through Gemünden Photo: Deutsche Bahn AG / Georg Wagner DB Schenker Transa semi-trailer loading Photo: Deutsche Bahn AG