Port Transport joins Hödlmayr to take over the Can Tunis terminal 26/02/24
< Back to listAuthor: Òscar Mateu
Port Transport joins Hödlmayr to take over the Can Tunis terminal
Two offers are competing in the new tender to operate the intermodal terminal of the Can Tunis logistics center in Barcelona. Grupo Alonso - which manages the node through its subsidiary Setemar - and Transportes Portuarios present themselves again, although the latter company attends this time in the form of a temporary union of companies (ute) together with the Austrian company specialized in automotive Hödlmayr. Sources close to the contest have reported that this company, which already has a rail service between Barcelona and Austria , is seeking to expand in the Spanish market.
Port Transport will seek to once again boost international traffic at the terminal
According to the same knowledgeable sources, collaboration between Port Transport will occur at 50%. For its part, the Spanish company confirms that its commercial strategy involves promoting international traffic and railway highways by taking advantage of the terminal's UIC or standard gauge connection, an objective that was already on the table the other time they opted for it. . On this occasion, the logistics firm is confident that “those services and companies “that contacted us in the previous contest can be recovered.” Although Adif never officially communicated the award, Transportes Portuarios had prevailed over Setemar in the technical and economic parts of the previous tender . One of the companies that will not be there, at least for the moment, is VIIA, which stopped operating its six railway motorway frequencies between the terminal and Bettembourg (Luxembourg) last summer.
PORT TRANSPORTS TAKES OVER THE CAN TUNIS CONTAINER DEPOT
Adif has officially informed Transportes Portuarios that it has obtained management of the 29,805 square meter container depot available in the Barcelona facility. This is a space that was put out to tender in the same package as the intermodal terminal in 2023, and that has now been tendered separately. The logistics firm will thus take over from Setemar, which had been running its operation in recent years. Those responsible are now waiting to sign the new contract - Adif estimated it at 2.5 million euros in the tender documents - and should access the facility on May 1.
As for Hödlmayr, the company would be in the process of “strengthening its European corridors,” reliable sources have indicated, although the traffic strategy that it will seek to operate in Can Tunis has not been revealed. The service that currently circulates and connects with the Austrian town of Schwertberg (near Linz) has a weekly frequency, and began transporting Renault cars manufactured in Valladolid in mid-2022. According to the latest data from the management company of the Pertús crossing , where the company's convoys circulate, traction is provided by Captrain.
The Austrian company was founded in 1954 and is family-owned. By 1973, it already had its own rail connection lines in Schwertberg, and began international expansion in the early 1990s. It currently operates 24 of its own trains throughout Europe, with average figures of 1.9 million vehicles transported each year. In 2023, it closed with a turnover of 400 million euros, according to data from its website, and the service would be its only known service in Spain to date.
The offer that ends up being awarded in the tender for the Can Tunis intermodal terminal will also be made, in addition to the terminal itself, with other facilities: adjacent roads, a warehouse with docks, offices and a parking lot for a total of 61,800 square meters of surface area. . Adif estimated a minimum income of 7.7 million euros to qualify for the properties, with a ten-year extendable contract. The economic offers, which will be opened next week, should also incorporate a mandatory investment of 900,000 euros, in addition to optional improvements that may allow the future manager to extend the contract. Adif wants its operator to install some elements linked to renewable energy and electric vehicle charging, and also to rehabilitate some of the tendered spaces.