Dutch company Schavemaker Logistics is aiming for an expansion of its Netherlands – Poland rail service. After boosting the route’s frequency to five weekly round-trips in September, it is now betting on another expansion by Christmas: “Schavemaker’s Christmas greeting”.
After an expansion to five weekly round-trips from late September this year, Schavemaker has now set its sights on six weekly services, the company’s sales director Susanne Dirksen tells RailFreight.com. As part of Schavemaker’s service, trains travel between the Dutch Port of Moerdijk and the company’s Kąty Wrocławskie terminal near the city of Wrocław in Poland.
Initially, the reason to set up the rail service was the labour shortage in the road sector, where Schavemaker is also active. “It prompted us to set up the route to Poland more than five years ago”, Dirksen explains.
“We wanted to have a multimodal solution, so we ended up in the Moerdijk port. It is a beautiful location between Rotterdam and Antwerp, which offers daily departures to England, Ireland, Spain and Portugal.” Schavemaker does first and last-mile transportation by truck, but the 1000-kilometre gist of the route is done via rail.
Expansion by Christmas
Now, demand is high enough to expand to six weekly round-trips, likely before Christmas, Dirksen says: “Schavemaker’s Christmas greeting”. And if there continues to be demand, eight round-trips per week are in the company’s sights.
One the one hand, that has to do with the aforementioned labour shortage. However, Dirksen also suspects that CO² emissions play a role. “In January 2025, there is going to be a number of companies that will have to report on their emissions. That aspect is growing in importance.”
On top of that, from December 2023, road transporters pay an additional 120 euro fee when transiting Germany. “I expected that that would provide an immense impulse to the modal shift, but that was not the case. Unfortunately, many road transporters have absorbed those costs themselves. But that is not sustainable.” Regardless, road transportation is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive, allowing for Schavemaker to grow its rail service.
A rail terminal is a must-have
It seems that there is plenty of reason to look towards rail for Schavemaker. But, explains Dirksen, there are limitations too. The company is not going to expand rail services to places where it does not have its own rail terminal, for example. “That is a must for us, because it makes us less dependent on others. We can do everything on our own, and that is a pleasant way of working. We won’t have external parties tell us: ‘You’ll be the first on Monday morning’ when a train is delayed.”
An additional own train service is also not exactly on the priority list. During the first year of the Netherlands – Poland service, potential customers often responded with scepticism when offered the option to transport their goods on the line. “But now it is a proven solution”, Dirksen says. “We have been doing this for five and a half years now, that inspires confidence.”
The fact that it is an established route makes it easier to attract customers, starting a whole new service is a challenge. “And it is not easy, because in the end, price is the most important thing for shippers. A rail solution can be cleaner and safer, but if it is five euros more expensive, then they won’t opt for it”, Dirksen explains.