Swiss and German ministries spearhead CargoBeamer’s terminal expansion

The Swiss Federal Office for Transport (FOT) and the German Federal Railway Authority (EBA) are set to spearhead the expansion of CargoBeamer’s terminals in Domodossola (Italy) and Kaldenkirchen (Germany), respectively, with their investments. The two public entities will raise 90 million euros in total for the two projects. At the same time, the Germany-based intermodal operator will also secure 50 more million euros from private investments.

RailFreight.com confirmed some weeks ago that FOT would be financially involved in the expansion of CargoBeamer’s Domodossola terminal. What is new, in this sense, is the German Transport Ministry’s involvement, via the EBA, in the expansion of the Kaldenkirchen terminal.

FOT will provide around 40 million euros to the Domodossola project (39.5 million euros, to be precise). Considering that FOT and EDA will raise 90 million euros jointly for CargoBeamer, it is understandable that EBA will contribute with approximately 50 million euros.

“The fact that public funds are now flowing into CargoBeamer on a large scale is ample proof of the importance of our technology – and yet another strong argument in the ongoing fundraising process”, commented Nicolas Albrecht, CEO of CargoBeamer.

More private funds

As mentioned above, an additional 50 million euros will be raised from private investments, making the total investment capital secured by CargoBeamer reach 140 million euros. All this funding is part of CargoBeamer’s Series B financing round that will remain open until summer so that more investors can express their interest.

With regard to the private investment capital, CargoBeamer’s CFO Markus Fischer stressed that it is vital for the company’s future. On his behalf, Hans Albrecht, leading the group of private investors via the venture capital firm Nordwind Ventures, underlined that “CargoBeamer has an enormous economic potential,” also claiming that the company has “established itself as the most scalable solution, and its growth must now be accelerated.”

Also read:

• Swiss Council asks for public funds to invest in private rail freight facilities

• CargoBeamer wants to build a terminal near German-Czech border