First frigo trailer on Belgium-Spain train opens new business for Hupac

The connection between Antwerp’s Combinant terminal and the Barcelona El Morrot terminal has a new component. Hupac dispatched a P400 frigo trailer for the first time in this service, or to put it in their own words, for the first time ever in the route. The test service for the frigo trailer left Antwerp on 8 November and arrived in Barcelona 48 hours later. According to the intermodal company, this is a new market to explore and serve.

“We can now offer P400 intermodal transport solutions for the agriculture and pharmaceutical industry and actively contribute to the modal shift from road to rail”, said Maurice Pallone, area manager of Hupac Intermodal, signalling the opening of the Antwerp-Barcelona connection to frigo trailers.

Also possible for Perpignan

Hupac’s Antwerp-Barcelona link runs with five weekly roundtrips. Understandably, that provides much space for more P400 frigo trailers on the route, which “play a crucial role in logistics from/to Spain,” said Pallone.

On top of that, it is possible to provide similar services on the route between Antwerp and Perpignan, which is on the way to Barcelona and involves Fret SNCF, which provides the traction services within France-the largest part of the route to Spain. Yet, Hupac warned that for the Antwerp-Perpignan service, “vehicle admission is subject to prior verification”.

Frigo trailers

As frigo trailers, the logistics industry defines refrigerated truckload trailers, which are insulated full truckload trailers with a refrigeration unit at the front. They are ideal for transporting pharmaceuticals, hazardous goods, bulk liquids or flowers, and fresh produce, which is Spain’s primary export cargo.

The frigo trailer is different from reefer containers and mainly occupies road traffic. A P400 profile makes putting such trailers on rail all the more complex, making the Antwerp-Barcelona open capacity for frigo transport an important milestone.

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• Hupac to start shuttle train service in Germany
• Hupac launches new rail freight service between Italy and Poland