Sea shipping giant Maersk Line has begun offering a rail freight service between Algeciras Port, in the Strait of Gibraltar, and Cordoba in northern Andalusia.

The service has three weekly return trips, carrying 52 TEUs on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. At the same time, Maersk is strengthening its intermodal capacity in Algeciras, one of the main Mediterranean hubs of Maersk Line.

Essential

This rail freight service makes it possible to use Cordoba´s rail freight junction to Madrid. The service is essential for Cunext, a company specialised in copper and aluminium wire and tubes, which has a factory in Cordoba. The company imports raw materials via Algeciras and can also export manufactured products from this point using the inbound containers.

Many companies are looking for infrastructure improvement in Cordoba to deliver new rail freight services. It is 140 kilometres from Seville, the main city of the region of Andalusia and whose economic outlook is heavily dependent on exports and tourism.

Rivalry between Algeciras and Tangier

Maersk is strengthening is services in Algeciras, as it also brushes off rumours off about transfer investments to Tangier port, in northern Morocco and the main rival for the Spanish hub in Gibraltar´s straight. These rumours increased after dockworkers striked against Spanish reform of port services, as a result of EU rules. However, EU investments for different rail freight corridors are changing the trend for logistics outsourcing, which was favouring Morocco due to its lower costs.