The port of Antwerp's rail transport initiative, Railport Antwerp, is aiming to expland its activities to the point where it doubles the proportion of rail transport in the port over the next few years.
Railport was set up in 2013 with the aim of taking practical initiatives to improve and promote rail transport in the port, and the focus of the activities has so far been on studies and trial projects for distributed transport.
'The part played by rail in overall transport within the port is currently less than 7 per cent,' explains Port Authority CEO Jacques Vandermeiren. 'This situation urgently needs to change in order to permit further, sustainable growth of the port in future.
'Railport's main task will henceforth be to coordinate the various rail activities in the port, acting as a link between the rail transport operators, the rail infrastructure operator, port companies, shippers and terminals.'
To help facilitate this growth, Nils van Vliet will takes over as CEO of Railport Antwerp on 1 July 2018.
'Achieving a modal shift in favour of rail transport is a top priority for the port of Antwerp,' said van Vliet. 'I am convinced that with Railport we can give the necessary push to make rail transport play a much more important role. I am very pleased at the prospect of being able to play a part in this effort in the near future.'
