DB Schenker starts new Swedish paper rail service

DB Schenker starts new Swedish paper rail service DB Schenker, the new name for Deutsche Bahn’s logistics division, said today it has started running seven trains per week from Swedish paper manufacturing sites in G'vle and Fr'vi to the German switching yard in Maschen, near Hamburg, in collaboration with Swedish logistics company Green Cargo.
   The service began in early January for ScandFibre Logistics AB (SFL), a service company owned by Swedish paper manufacturers. Each of the freight cars carries 60 tons for Swedish paper and cartonboard manufacturer Korsn's.
   “The advantage of the new rail system for the customer is that through-service rail transport reduces shipping time and, in contrast to the previous logistics system, eliminates up to two transshipment steps, which is important because paper is a fragile product,” said Klaus Kremper, chairman of the management board at Railion Deutschland, Europe's biggest freight railroad, also part of Deutsche Bahn.
   DB Schenker has existing business relationships with both Green Cargo and SFL. Last December it formed a joint venture for the through-service rail freight service via Denmark with Green Cargo, and has been operating a round trip rail system for SFL and the Swedish paper industry with 21 trains per week since 1999.
   From the Maschen switching yard onwards SFL uses DB Schenker's international single freight car network as well as partner railways to distribute more than 1 million tons of paper in Europe, which it estimates reduces the need for 41,500 truckloads every year.