RailFreight Connects, the new event organised by RailFreight.com in Bremen on 6 and 7 September, is less than a month away. This event will be the opportunity to bring together the rail and port industries and discuss how synergies between the two could be enhanced. Moreover, it will be the first EU-level event where the Greening Freight Package will be discussed.

The event will kick off with a site visit to the breakbulk terminal Neustädter Hafen in Bremen. After that, the RailFreight Connects will be divided into three sessions. The first one will focus on how the rail and port industries in Europe can become more integrated. Session II will start with a discussion on the Greening Freight Package and will then dive into the future of rail rolling stock. Last, but not least, the third session will revolve around the implementation of new technologies in ports and terminals to enhance rail freight.

You can find out more about RailFreight Connects here and register here.

Session I: The European ports and rail

After a short introduction, the first speaker will be Maaike Goslinga, Deputy Editor at De Correspondent. She will focus on the container market and how a relatively small number of companies monopolised it. After that, representatives from the ports of Genoa and Bilbao, as well as HHLA will participate in a panel discussion to debate how European railways and ports can strengthen their relationship.

The session will continue with Thorsten Dieter, the rail freight coordinator at the Germain infrastructure manager DB Netz, and Christoph Pasternak, CEO of EUROFIMA. Dieter will talk about different ways of setting up rail infrastructure to boost the modal shift of rail freight. Pasternak, on the other hand, will debate the possibility of tailor-made financing solutions for port rail connections in Germany.

Session II: Rolling into the future

This will be the session during which the Greening Freight Package will be discussed in depth. Neele Wesseln, Managing Director of German rail freight association DIE GÜTERBAHNEN, will present the initiative and debate what still needs to be done. Wesseln will be followed by Howard Rosen, Chairman of the Rail Working Group, who will present the Luxembourg Rail Protocol and the possibility of an international registry for rolling stock identification. After that, there will be a panel discussion concerning the plan for the implementation of Digital Automatic Coupling in Europe, which has had contrasting responses so far.

Session III: Terminal 2.0

The final session of the RailFreight Connects will revolve around terminal efficiency. It will start with an interview with Stefan Kirch, CBDO at Nevomo. Kirch will discuss how technologies similar to the ones developed by Nevomo can further enhance the synergies between ports and railways. He will be followed by Christopher Cavanagh, program lead at Freightliner Limited, who will present how Terminal Operating Systems are being implemented in the UK. Session III will be concluded by Nigel Bish, Head of Forensic Rail and Civil Infrastructure at HKA. Bish will analyse the challenges surrounding investments for rail innovation and how synergies between the parties involved can be boosted. Session III will be concluded with a tech quiz, where the speakers will test the audience and the winner will get a prize.

Breakout sessions will be shared with the Project Cargo Summit

The RailFreight Connects will take place simultaneously with the Project Cargo Summit, organised by our sister publication Project Cargo Journal. The two events will come together on two occasions. On the first day, the two audiences will have the opportunity to choose whether to attend a breakout session about the impact of the war in Ukraine or one about labour shortages in the rail and port industries. On the second day, the choice will be between a breakout session focussing on the benefits and challenges of putting non-cranable semi-trailers on the rail or an audience debate.