Lidl is to move into rail freight with the creation of a new unit, Tailwind Intermodal. This unit will work closely with the German discount retailer’s in-house container shipping line while also offering its services to third parties.
“As a sister company of Tailwind Shipping Lines, Tailwind Intermodal GmbH will organise and coordinate the inland transport of goods arriving at the seaport of Koper in Slovenia,” the company stated.
“Koper is Tailwind’s strategically most important port. Its own ships bring goods in on the Panda Express liner service from China. Tailwind Intermodal is responsible for the onward carriage to the backcountry and the return of empty containers to Koper for loading onto the Panda Express to China,” added Lidl.
Operations begin this summer
Lidl confirmed to Railfreight.com that Tailwind Intermodal will start operations this summer. It will commission various partners to transport the goods with up to five daily train connections to the multi-modal Cargo Center in Graz, in the Styria region of Austria. Goods will be palletised in a warehouse located directly at the hub.
“Thanks to its geographical location between the Adriatic and Baltic States, the Cargo Center Graz, in conjunction with Koper, forms an ideal connection to Eastern Europe with short transit times via a European seaport—and back,” said the retailer.
Two players with potential
Lidl set up its own ocean freight operation in April 2022 to take greater control of its shipping requirements, tackle supply chain problems, and reduce high container shipping costs.
The port of Koper handled just over a million TEU last year, up 5 per cent compared to 2022. Some 20,609 trains operated at the port in 2023. The ratio between road and rail in total throughput was slightly on the rail side at 52 per cent.
The objective is to raise global container throughput to 1.4 million TEU by 2028. The port said it is investing 785 million euros over the next five years to increase capacity and fluidity in time for the opening of a second railway line. Doubling the Divača-Koper line is one of Slovenia’s main rail infrastructure projects and is expected to facilitate significant growth in rail freight.
