Tender for new vehicles terminal at Lázaro Cárdenas
The Mexican port of Lázaro Cárdenas will issue a tender for a new finished vehicles terminal in either November or December this year. This tender will require an investment of $40m.
The eventual concession will be for a two-berth, 400,000m2 facility, although initially the terminal is expected to open with just a single berth serving an area of 300,000m2, with a nominal annual capacity of 250,000 units. A second berth and a further 100,000m2 of operating area could be added later if the market requires it.
The contract is due to be awarded in the first quarter of 2012. Six companies, both domestic and international, are apparently indicating interest. This compares with an earlier tender, in 2009, which drew no bids whatsoever.
Gefco service for Central Asia
PSA’s logistics subsidiary, Gefco, has opened a weekly service between Lithuania and Central Asia that will be used to deliver new vehicles to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Tajikistan. Depending on market demand the service could increase to five shipments per week.
Vehicles, including Peugeots and Citroëns, are now picked up once a week at Neuseddin, near Berlin, Germany, and transferred by truck to the new Gefco Baltic depot at Vilnius. From there they are transported by train to the Central Asian markets, including Almaty in Kazakhstan where Gefco has recently opened a subsidiary.
In March the company announced that turnover in Central and Eastern Europe was up by 38% and, along with the new Kazakh facility, it recently opened a division in Bulgaria.
The new link means the company is now providing multimodal transport route between the Baltic States and Central Asia. The move has expanded the general freight services it operates as part of the Eurasian MultiModal Alliance (EMMA) – a joint venture formed by Gefco and the Latvian railway SRR.
Autoterminal Algerie opens for business
In early October, Autoterminal Algerie (ATA) took delivery of its first consignment of new vehicles at the port of Djen Djen, in Algeria.
ATA is a joint venture between Autoterminal Barcelona and Universal Transit, which is the biggest operator of road transporters in Algeria.
The terminal, which covers an area of 95,000m²,can handle up to 3,600 vehicles and has storage capacity for 2,800 in a bonded compound. It is also equipped with an 800m² workshop where PDI revisions can take place and accessories added.
ATA is also currently building another vehicles terminal at Bouirain, southern Algeria, which is soon to be linked by a new east-west motorway. This facility occupies an area of 100,000m2 and has 3,000m2 of workshops for PDI and vehicle cleaning.
NYK enters Brazil cabotage business
NYK is has entered the Brazilian cabotage business with the acquisition of 10% share of Brazilian forwarder Maestra Navegação e Logistica S.A. (Maestra) and its two group companies. NYK and Maestra have also agreed to nominate one board member from the NYK Group to Maestra’s board of directors and to start Brazilian domestic container transport from November.
The deal will mean the deployment of four vessels able to carry between 1,100 to 1,600 TEU on a fixed day weekly service on a rotation calling at Navegantes – Santos – Rio de Janeiro – Salvador – Suape – Manaus – Suape – Navegantes.
“NYK will not only be able to participate in the Brazilian cabotage sector, which is showing steady growth every year, but also have coverage to and from Manaus (Amazon Region) and northeast Brazil connecting with NYK’s existing liner services calling the country,” said the company is a statement.
NYK will continue its efforts to provide broader and better-established intermodal transport services to its valued customers.
Maestra and its group companies were established in 2009 by Brazilian infrastructure operator Triunfo Participações e Investimentos S.A.
Pecova takes VWs to Milan
Pecova SA, the specialist automotive subsidiary of the freight arm of Spanish National Railways(RENFE),has begun an international service between the Volkswagen factory at Landaben, in Pamplona,and ArenaPo, close to Milan.It is expected to convey up to 30,000 finished vehicles annually by rail.
RENFE is making useofitsfirst everstandardgauge double-deck vehicle transporter wagons, which are rostered into 485m long trains with a maximum capacity of 216vehicles.
Percosa transports more than 90,000 vehicles by rail annually as well as handling road distribution for 35,600 vehicles.
