SBB Cargo

SBB Cargo is a subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) specialising in railfreight. Swiss Federal Railways is a former state-owned company that was transformed in 1999 into a joint-stock company under special legislation and divided up into three independent divisions: Passenger Traffic, Freight and Infrastructure. The headquarters of Swiss Federal Railways SBB Cargo AG the Freight division's official designation is in Basel. SBB Cargo is managed by CEO Nicolas Perrin and has around 3,700 employees. On behalf of its owner, the Swiss Confederation, SBB Cargo performs the task of operating a nationwide rail network as a profitable, public enterprise and offering transit freight, thus making a considerable contribution to shifting traffic from road to rail.

SBB Cargo is the Swiss market leader in railfreight and the number two operator on the transalpine North-South corridor that links the North Sea ports and Germany with Italy. By adding Rotterdam to the greatly expanded international network for wagonload and door-to-door freight, services to and from the Netherlands have also been offered since May 2007. In June 2007, SBB Cargo and the French railfreight operator Fret SNCF agreed on joint cross-border production between Mulhouse (France) and Buchs (Canton of St Gallen). This simplifies east-west cross-border freight transport on this route and is intended to increase competitiveness with regard to road transport.In cooperation with the national railway company of Belgium, SNCB, SBB Cargo has been running about 70 container trains a week from the Belgian North Sea coast to Italy on behalf of the international intermodal operator T.R.W (Train Route Wagon) since the beginning of 2009.

SBB Cargo is an active member of the Xrail alliance, which was founded by seven European freight railways in February 2010 with the aim of making international wagonload rail transport more customer-friendly and efficient.

SBB Cargo formed SBB Cargo International in a joint venture with Hupac.

Strategy

Since the liberalisation of Europe's railways, railway undertakings have been entitled to infrastructure access rights across the European network. SBB Cargo has operated between the North Sea ports and northern Italy since 2003 on the basis of an end-to-end freight handling approach. In order to pursue this strategy, SBB Cargo established subsidiaries in Germany and Italy. These companies operate within their home countries using their own locomotives and staff. SBB Cargo is thus in direct competition with other freight operators in Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Through this strategic decision, SBB Cargo positioned itself early on the European North-South corridor as a cross-border provider of services from a single source, and has succeeded in achieving a substantial increase each year at an international level in both freight volumes and sales. Nevertheless, the company's entry into the German and Italian markets was subject to high investment and expansion costs. Fierce competition on the North-South corridor exerted heavy pressure on prices. As a result, SBB Cargo did not obtain the prices required for the services offered. Furthermore, the loss of lucrative transit freight on the key route through Switzerland (on which it formerly held a monopoly) occurred faster than expected, leading to further adjustment of cost structures by way of job losses. Despite this, the cost structure of SBB Cargo, which is of medium size by European standards, is still so unfavourable that the company regularly posts losses.

Production system in Switzerland

SBB Cargo’s basic network in Switzerland serves 323 delivery points. It also operates services to 200 customer-specific locations outside its basic network. Freight traffic in Switzerland is routed through the three major marshalling yards at Basel-Muttenz, Zurich-Limmattal und Lausanne-Triage. These marshalling yards are operated by SBB Infrastructure.

The Gotthard line is SBB Cargo's major transit route. The second transalpine axis through the Lötschberg and Simplon tunnels is used primarily by competitor BLS Cargo, but is also traversed by SBB Cargo trains. Rail accounts in 2009 for 61% of transalpine traffic in Switzerland – the highest market share of any European country. However, this has shown a noticeable year-on-year decline (2008: 64%) as a result of the economic crisis.

Production systems in Germany

SBB Cargo Deutschland, the German subsidiary of SBB Cargo, was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Duisburg. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of SBB Cargo, plans, schedules and operates freight trains in Germany.

Destinations/departure points for wagon groups or block trains in Germany are Duisburg, Cologne, Aachen, Rheinhausen, Siegen, Saarbrücken, Ludwigshafen/Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg in Breisgau, Singen, Lübeck, Bremerhaven/Bremen, Hamburg, Kehl, Vohburg/Neustadt, Dortmund/Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Ingolstadt, Neuss, Gießen/Mainzlar, and Weil am Rhein, while rail-to-road transshipment platforms in Germany are operated in Bremen, Duisburg, Worms, and Weil am Rhein.

SBB Cargo Deutschland has been a recognized training organization since October 30, 2007.

Production systems in Italy

SBB Cargo Italia, the Italian subsidiary of SBB Cargo, was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Gallarate. The company is also a wholly owned subsidiary of SBB Cargo, and plans, schedules and operates freight trains in Italy. It also trains locomotive drivers. Since spring 2008, SBB Cargo also operates journeys to Bologna, thus strengthening collaboration with ERS Railways – 36 container trains per week now run between Rotterdam and Northern Italy.

Destinations/departure points for wagon groups or block trains in Italy are Desio, Lecco, Oggiono, Molteno, Carimate, Gallarate, Novara, Melzo, Brescia, Padua, Trecate, Turin, Verzuolo, Parma and Bologna, while rail-to-road transshipment platforms in Italy are operated in Desio, Lonato, Brescia, Camnago-Lentate and Turin.

ChemOil Logistics AG

ChemOil Logistics AG was founded in 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of SBB Cargo. The company is part of a close-meshed European logistics network and chiefly provides services for customers in the chemical and petroleum sectors. ChemOil's main activity is in the organisation and execution of freight forwarding from door to door, using all available modes of transport. In addition to customised, efficient transport concepts – not least in terms of environmental compatibility – ChemOil provides its customers with a wide range of complementary services on request, such as managing wagon fleets, analysing procedures and processes and advising on how to optimise the supply chain.

Services

Services offered by SBB Cargo are split into the following categories: door-to-door logistics concepts with wagonloads (Cargo Rail and Cargo Express), block trains (Cargo Train), and intermodal traffic (traction services for intermodal trains run by all major operators such as Hupac, ERS, ICF, IFB and T.R.W). Both standardised products and individual customer solutions are offered. SBB Cargo intends to use its new “Rail & Transship” product to expand its position in intermodal transport in its domestic market.

SBB Cargo is cooperating with the international climate protection foundation myclimate to provide a totally climate-neutral service for its customers. The CO2 emissions inevitably associated with a rail journey are offset through climate protection measures elsewhere. Unlike similar schemes, the SBB Cargo concept takes all environmentally harmful emissions and the entire life cycle of the consignment into account when calculating environmental impact. Since the beginning of 2009 the Swiss railfreight operator has also been providing its customers with individual emission reports. The emissions comparison for all consignments forwarded by SBB Cargo can easily be integrated into operational environmental management systems and shown in environmental audits.

Rolling stock

On December 31, 2009, SBB Cargo had 9,121 freight wagons in circulation (of which 7,000 were low-noise). This was 8% fewer than a year previously (end-2008: 9,910). SBB Cargo has purchased 50 Re 482 dual-voltage freight locomotives for its Switzerland-Germany services, 15 of which can also be operated in Austria. SBB Cargo uses dual-voltage locomotives for its Switzerland-Italy services: 21 of its own and 3 leased Re 484 locomotives and 12 Re 474 locomotives, with an additional three Am 840 diesel locomotives for use on non-electrified lines. SBB Cargo currently has a total of 433 main-line locomotives in service, plus 213 shunting engines and tractors.

For freight services in Switzerland, SBB Cargo also has 45 new diesel shunters with environment-friendly soot particle filters. These locomotives help improve production efficiency and are also equipped with radio remote-control systems. The Biel works is currently modernising 23 Tm IV-class shunting tractors for SBB Cargo and making them ready for another 20 years in service. After the refit, the shunting tractors will be classified as type Tm 232.

In summer 2010, SBB Cargo ordered 30 new two-axle hybrid locomotives (type Eem 923 Hybrid) from Stadler Winterthur AG to replace the Bm 4/4 shunting locomotives and various three-axle shunting locomotives used for light freight duties for wagonload traffic, since the old locomotives no longer met current requirements in terms of age, cost-effectiveness and performance. The newly developed model is based on class Ee 922, which is already in use by SBB for shunting duties in the passenger segment. The hybrid version for SBB Cargo has two electric motors and an auxiliary diesel engine for use on non-electrified sidings. The Eem 923 Hybrid has a maximum speed of 100 km/h.

Key figures

SBB Cargo’s traffic volume in 2009 totalled 11.67 billion net tonne-kilometres – a decline of 7% from the previous year (2008: 12.5 bn). This decrease was due to the significant impact of the recession on many of the sectors in which SBB Cargo operates. Nevertheless, by implementing productivity-boosting measures early on, by regularly reviewing its production systems and adjusting them to market developments, and also by disposing of unprofitable businesses, SBB Cargo succeeded in partly offsetting the effects of the recession in 2009. In 2009, SBB Cargo saw freight revenues in its international business fall by 15%. In domestic wagonload traffic, freight revenues dropped by 9%. SBB Cargo posted a loss of CHF 62.5 million in 2009, compared with a deficit of CHF 29.9 million in the previous year. As a result of the economic crisis, traffic revenues fell by 12.3% to CHF 915.6 million (2008: CHF 1.04 billion).

Investment in subsidiaries

In addition to its wholly owned subsidiaries SBB Cargo Italia Srl and SBB Cargo Deutschland, SBB Cargo also owns the entire share capital of ChemOil Logistics AG in Basel (transport of chemicals and petroleum products) and has minority holdings in RAlpin AG, Berne (30%), Hupac SA, Chiasso (23.85%) and Termini SA, Chiasso (20%).

Source: SBB Cargo Annual Report 2009

External links

• SBB Cargo website