Sustainability, Innovation, Supply Chain • 2 min reading time

New rail link for fresh produce enormous boost for sustainability

Annemieke van der Heijde published on 6 May 2019

Rotterdam, 6 May - The CoolRail rail link will start operating from 6 May. This is a direct rail connection for fresh produce. This dedicated, temperature-controlled train will transport the fresh produce between Valencia and Rotterdam 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. CoolRail 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.

Significant CO2 reduction

CoolRail achieves a significant CO2 reduction. Rail transport reduces the number of truck movements by 12,096 annually and saves 22 million kilometres of road transport. As a result emissions of CO2 will be reduced by 15,000 tons annually.

(that reduction equates to the annual output of almost six large wind turbines). When the service starts on 6 May, 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.

Boosting chain sustainability

An important driver of the stakeholders is increasing the sustainability of transport movements between Spain and the Netherlands. Spain is the major trading partner of north-western 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.

The CoolRail initiative perfectly reflects the aim increasing the sustainability of all processes in the fresh produce supply chain.

New rail link

The route to Valencia is the beginning of a network. The intention is to grow the initiative and create CoolRail rail links to Germany, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.

Partners

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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Annemieke van der Heijde

Marketing Manager Group

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