Lineas and Hupac Intermodal cooperate to enhance services on Zeebrugge-Milan lines
Brussels, December 17 2024 - Lineas, one of Europe’s leading private rail freight operators, and Hupac Intermodal, one of Europe’s most reliable intermodal network operators, are pleased to announce a significant extension of their collaboration, to strengthen intermodal logistics on the Zeebrugge-Milan lines. With this agreement, effective from January 1st, 2025, both companies aim to provide reliable, high-frequency intermodal solutions to meet the growing demand for sustainable and efficient cross-border transport between Belgium and Italy.
In order to better meet the expectations and needs of its customers, Lineas has implemented a large transformation plan in recent years. The company has completely realigned its offering to propose highly reliable operations and services. And this has paid off: its customer satisfaction has risen from 2,9 out of 5 in 2022 to 3,5 in 2023, with several peaks at 4 during 2024. This success is the result of many internal improvements, including a renewed focus on its core business of being a Railway Undertaking.
In this context, Lineas wanted to focus on being a traction provider for its Open Intermodal product Zeebrugge-Milano and to massify the Italian corridor delivering improved quality and synergies. The choice was to work on the Zeebrugge-Milano traffic together with a partner who could ensure long term continuity and development of the market in this corridor.
Therefore, from January 1st, 2025, Lineas and Hupac Intermodal cooperate on the Zeebrugge-Milan product, with Lineas concentrating on its core business of rail activities and Hupac supporting Lineas with its extensive industry knowledge and operational capabilities to provide excellent intermodal solutions. In particular:
- Lineas will act as the traction provider, ensuring a seamless transition and business continuity for customers, and will keep producing rail capacity on both sides of the Rhine (via Germany and France) to provide excellent connectivity.
- Hupac Intermodal will operate and provide the intermodal service on the Zeebrugge-Milan route.
Both companies are committed to maintaining the highest standards of service delivery during and after the transition period. Customers can expect continued support and high-quality intermodal solutions that leverage Hupac’s extensive expertise and Lineas’ proven reliability as a Railway Undertaking.
"We are excited to take this next step with Hupac Intermodal," says Bernard Gustin, Executive Chairman of Lineas. “The success of our Antwerp-Catalonia initiative has demonstrated the value of combining our strengths, and we are confident that our collaboration will bring the same high quality of service and operational efficiency to the Zeebrugge-Milan line."
Michail Stahlhut, CEO of Hupac Intermodal, adds "This set-up represents a significant opportunity to deliver added value to the market by uniting the expertise of two leading companies: Lineas as railway undertaking, Hupac as intermodal operator. We appreciate the possibility to run our Belgium-Italy connection both via Germany and via France, and to serve terminals both in the east and the west of Milan. This is a way to increase the resilience and performance of intermodal transport.”
For more information on Lineas and its services, visit www.lineas.net.
For more information on Hupac Intermodal and its services, visit www.hupac.com.