Contargo joins the management of rail operator DistriRail by acquiring one-third of the company’s shares. The Mannheim-based company will acquire 33 per cent of Distrirail’s shares, with the existing co-shareholders duisport and Van Donge & de Roo (D&R) maintaining an equal share. The deal will be effective as of 1 January 2024.

The parties explained that the share repositioning still needs the approval of the antitrust authorities. DistriRail was owned solely by D&R until 2015 when duisport joined the management by acquiring 50 per cent of shares.

DistriRail operates shuttle trains between the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and duisport and Mannheim in Germany. It serves ten terminals in the Dutch port and runs five weekly roundtrips to each German destination. In duisport, it serves the DIT and D3T terminals at the Logport I logistical estate. Contargo operates the DIT terminal as well as the terminal in Mannheim.

Expansion of roundtrips

Contargo and DistriRail have already been cooperating as they operate the Rotterdam-Mannheim shuttle jointly. “We have been both a customer of and a service provider for DistriRail for many years. Together with our co-shareholders, we plan to significantly expand the number of round trips on the Rotterdam-Duisburg route in the coming years,” commented Thomas Löffler, Managing Director of Contargo GmbH & Co. KG.

“With a strong partner like Contargo, we can optimise the flow of goods between the key logistics hubs of Rotterdam, Duisburg and Mannheim and serve customers more efficiently along the whole Rhine basin,” underlined Markus Bangen, CEO of duisport.

For Ron de Roo, co-founder of D&R, the partnership constitutes a strategic move towards attracting more cargo on the shuttle rail services. “Contargo is just the right partner for that,” he said. De Roo also mentioned that DistriRail will now have independent management with its own CEO above the current managing director, Frans Vroegop, and operations manager, Peter de Galan.