Double delight for
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rail freight industry THE RAIL-FREIGHT industry has received a double boost with the opening of a new terminal in the West Midlands and the signing of the UK's biggest intermodal rail contract.
Birmingham Intermodal Freight Terminal (BIFT) is expected to handle about eight trains a day. The 25-acre site, next to junction 10 of the M42, has been developed by Roadways Container Logistics (RCL) to replace its existing site in Erskine Street, Birmingham.
Clive Branford, RCL marketing manager, says about 50 drivers are based at the facility which opened last week (4 July). Meanwhile, Freightliner has signed a five-year contract with Danish shipping and logistics giant AP Moller-Maersk, the parent company of RCL.
The contract involves providing 353 round-trip wagon movements a day for the movement of Maersk containers. It consolidates two contracts Freightliner had with Maersk subsidiaries, P& 0 Nedlloyd and Maersk Sealand.
Each wagon can carry one 40ft and one 20ft container. They will connect the ports of Southampton. Felixstowe and Tilbury with eight inland destinations, including BIFT.