photo: PKP Cargo/PKP Cargo
Last week, PKP CARGO CONNECT, a PKP CARGO Group company, launched a test container connection on the New Silk Road from China to Gliwice. The company is the operator of the connection on the section Małaszewicze - Gliwice B Kontenerowa. The train carried cargo destined for the customer's distribution center in the Czech Republic.
Within the framework of this connection PKP CARGO Group has provided rail transport on Polish section, customs handling, services at PKP CARGO CONNECT terminal in Gliwice and deliveries by truck to final destinations in the Czech Republic as a door-to-door service.
- This service is an excellent solution for senders and recipients of shipments, because individual stages of transport, despite changing the means of transport, are carried out in the same cargo unit - in this case a 40HC container. In addition, the use of road transport on the route Gliwice - Czech Republic will allow optimization of transport in terms of time and just-in-time delivery of the appropriate number of containers in accordance with customer expectations - says Ivan Ružbacký, PKP CARGO CONNECT CEO. Launch of a new connection on this route will have a significant impact on the import of goods from China to the Czech market.
- Launch of container connection on this route meets the expectations of our customers. PKP Cargo Group, having a comprehensive logistics offer, can combine, if necessary, different types of transport, as in this case. We provide our customers with customs handling, reloading, storage and warehousing of goods - says Czesław Warsewicz, PKP CARGO CEO.
Launching regular connections will increase the importance of the intermodal terminal in Gliwice and gives a chance to develop further operator connections on the route China-Poland-Czech Republic - adds Warsewicz.
Thanks to the existing and planned operator connections the terminal in Gliwice is becoming one of the most important intermodal transshipment hubs in the region. From here the PKP CARGO CONNECT company has direct connections with Duisburg (Germany), Piacenza (Italy) and Małaszewicze, which are the gateway to the European Union on the New Silk Road and further in the export of European goods to Asia, e.g. to Xi'an, Chengdu and Chongqing in China. And another operator connection to Turkey will be launched soon.
PKP CARGO is the biggest rail cargo carrier in Poland and a leading operator in the European Union. As a Group it offers integrated logistics services, combining rail (the largest fleet of rolling stock in Poland), road and sea transport. It provides stand-alone freight services for several thousand customers in Poland as well as in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia. In March 2015, the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with HZ Cargo, a Croatian rail carrier, and in May it acquired 80 percent of Advanced World Transport (AWT), the second largest rail freight carrier in the Czech Republic. In November 2017, PKP CARGO S.A. acquired the remaining 20 percent stake in AWT. In December 2018, AWT a.s. acquired 80 percent of the shares in the Slovenian company PRIMOL-RAIL d.o.o., which in 2019 received a certificate allowing it to independently carry out transport on the Slovenian market.
PKP CARGO Group comprises subsidiaries responsible for intermodal transport, national and international rail forwarding (PKP CARGO Connect) and rolling stock service and maintenance (PKP CARGOTABOR), among others.
In 2020, PKP CARGO Group achieved more than 4 billion PLN of operating revenue, transporting 93.6 million tonnes of cargo.
On 30 October 2013, PKP CARGO debuted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, becoming the first rail freight carrier in the EU to be listed on the stock exchange. The value of the public offering, in which PKP S.A. sold almost 50 percent of PKP CARGO shares, amounted to PLN 1.42 billion. The company is currently included in the mWIG40 index. PKP S.A. remains its main shareholder.
PKP CARGO Group is actively involved in CSR activities. It applies standards of responsible employee policy, implements a number of environmental protection activities and is also a patron of railroad technology relics, collected, inter alia, in the unique European Railway Equipment Heritage Centre.