The Belgian Euro Terminal Genk is to include a state-of-the-art rail terminal called H.Essers Railport Genk. The terminal will facilitate the domestic rail connections Genk-Antwerp and Antwerp-Ghent-Zeebrugge in order to support freight transport between Genk and the port cities.

The current Euro Terminal Genk was previously owned by Lineas and LRM is now acquired by H.Essers. The operators have the joint aim to make it easier to transship cargo from the road onto rail. The new rail terminal will be secured and equipped in accordance with the highest standards for the handling of chemical, pharmaceutical and high-value products.

Transshipment

“H.Essers is no longer exclusively a carrier. Over the years, our company has been transformed into a fully-fledged logistics player with total services within the supply chain. With the acquisition of the Euro Terminal Genk, we are also adding red trains to our services”, said CEO Gert Bervoets.

“The H.Essers Railport will allow customers in the Genk area to more easily shift to rail and use the existing and future direct connections out of Genk”, said Sam Bruynseels, managing director of Lineas Intermodal. “Moreover, they can easily connect to the rest of Europe through the Lineas Green Xpress Network via Antwerp.”

Connection to Italy

Lineas and H.Essers have been working together successfully on the Belgium-Romania rail freight connection for years. Last month, this collaboration was further strengthened with the joint launch of a regular and direct open freight train between Genk and Trieste in the North of Italy.

“With the first direct connection between Genk and Trieste, H.Essers took an important step earlier this month in the expansion of its synchromodality network, whereby goods are no longer transported by truck from their own warehouses but also via rail”, the company explained.

H. Essers Vally

H.Essers has ambitious plans for the further expansion of its sites in Genk. Together with the new rail terminal, the sites will form a European junction for goods transport by road, water and rail, which it has dubbed H.Essers Valley. This is accompanied by an investment of 26.2 million Euros.

“H.Essers wants to make full use of Genk’s location and logistical assets within Europe”, the company commented. Development of H.Essers Valley will happen in different phases. “From here we offer our customers at home and abroad synchromodal solutions through smart combinations of road, rail and water. Already 41 per cent of our current fleet can be used synchromodally today”, said Bervoets.