In cooperation with Rail Cargo Austria (RCA) and Green Cargo, Stena Line has been offering fixed slots on the railway ferries since May, allowing to transport direct freight trains from Vienna to Trelleborg. Initially the train will be operated twice weekly from Austria to Sweden. Carrrying cargo from Italy, Slovenia and Hungary, the RCA train covers more than 1,000 kilometers in Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany.
In the port of Rostock,the train is loaded onto the ferries operating on the Stena Line route Rostock-Trelleborg, with up to three daily departures. In Trelleborg Green Cargo takes over the train for the onward journey in Scandinavia. For the route Vienna-Trelleborg the train needs approximately 30 hours with a multi-system locomotive. The conventional freight cars can transport steel, long rails, household appliances and forest products.
The direct train Vienna-Trelleborg is another step by Stena Line, to expand their rail-based transport offer with regards to pre and on carriage of the ferry routes. Customers can book the ferry passage and the rail traction with just one booking and one contact person.
“Our customers are increasingly asking for these integrated, sustainable solutions for their transports throughout Europe. With our railway ferries on Rostock-Trelleborg we have the infrastructure, and our colleagues and partners provide the expertise and experience to organise a complete train from southern to northern Europe. The direct train complements our highly rail-based overland offer, providing our customers rail transport, loading and ocean freight from a single source,” says Katrin Verner, Freight Commercial Manager Stena Line.
Since its founding in 1962, the Swedish shipping company Stena Line has developed into one of the largest ferry companies in the world with currently around 5,000 employees. In 2018, the fleet transported 2.1 million freight units, 1.7 million cars and over 7.6 million passengers between the Netherlands and Great Britain, on the Irish Sea and on the Baltic Sea between Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Latvia and Germany. The fleet currently consists of 38 ships that travel to destinations on 20 routes. The headquarters of Stena Line GmbH & Co. KG is in Rostock.
