From Tilburg to Poland, rail proves suitable for transporting plants
Last Friday, a first test train with plants from Railport Brabant in Tilburg travelled to the rail terminal Rzepin in Poland. The service involved three cooperating parties: forwarder Mandersloot, plant exporter Royal Lemkes and logistics service provider GVT. The test train is the first phase of a broader project for a joint corridor between Rotterdam and Poland.
The service included a road leg between Bleijswijk near Rotterdam and Tilburg. In Tilburg, the non-cranable trailers were loaded on the train and continued their trip to Poland. The train arrived at its destination fourteen hours later, making the connection “extremely suitable” for plants that leave on Friday and have to be fresh in the shops on Monday.
Sustainable transport
Royal Lemkes and Mandersloot have been working together for years to transport plant products to Poland. Currently, they seek to enrich their cooperation and make it more environmentally friendly by using the railways. For Mandersloot, this option also offers opportunities to deploy their equipment and drivers more efficiently.
“Sustainability is an increasingly important theme for us. In addition, finding enough drivers for our international trips is an increasing challenge, for which this rail connection is an excellent alternative. It offers our customers and us flexibility and high reliability” commented Ronald Mandersloot, owner of the transport company.
“We only have one earth, and we have to be careful with it. We must have chain partners who think with us towards a climate-neutral future. This includes the sustainable cultivation of plants, the production process, but certainly also the transport of our plants to customers”, added Michiel van Veen, Director Supply Chain and Business Innovation at Royal Lemkes.
Joint Corridor Rotterdam – Poland
The test service is part of the Joint Corridor Rotterdam-Poland concept, which belongs to the OffRoad programme of the Topsector Logistiek. The specific programme aims to involve various parties to work together, scale up and optimise the connection between Rotterdam-Poland and the number of plants transported by rail.
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