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’s interim CEO is Nicolas Perrin. The company has around 4,400 employees. 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 of 2007. In June 2007 SBB Cargo and the French railfreight operator Fret SNCF agreed on common 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 designed to increase competitiveness with respect to road transport.
Strategy
Since the liberalisation of Europe's railways, railway undertakings have been entitled to infrastructure access rights across the European network. SBB Cargo pursues an aggressive strategy of growth on the North-South route and is continuously expanding its services. Its declared aim is to be the leading provider of railfreight services on routes between the North Sea ports and northern Italy. This strategy is based on a philosophy of continuous responsibility throughout the entire transport process. To help it achieve this, SBB Cargo has established subsidiaries in Germany and Italy. These companies operate within their home countries using their own fleets of locomotives and staff. SBB Cargo is thus in direct competition with other freight operators in Germany and Italy.
Production system in Switzerland
SBB Cargo’s basic network in Switzerland serves 323 delivery points. It also services 200 customer-specific routes outside its basic network. Freight traffic in Switzerland is routed through the three major marshalling yards at Basel-Muttenz, Zurich-Limmattal und Lausanne-Renens. 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, although SBB Cargo does run some trains on this route. Rail accounts for 65% of transalpine traffic in Switzerland – the highest market share of any European country. In October 2006 SBB Cargo operated its first train on the Brenner Pass route between Austria and Italy.
Production systems in Germany
SBB Cargo Deutschland 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. It ran a total of 435 trains a week in Germany in July 2007 (end-2006: 410 trains).
Rakes and block trains are operated between the following German towns and cities: Duisburg, Cologne, Aachen, Rheinhausen, Siegen, Saarbrücken, Ludwigshafen/Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg im Breisgau, Singen, Lübeck, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Kehl and Vohburg/Neustadt. Road-rail transshipment centres in Weil am Rhein, Ludwigshafen/Worms and Duisburg are served.
Production systems in Italy
SBB Cargo Italia 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. 405 trains a week now operate under the aegis of SBB Cargo Italia (as of July 2007), compared with a total of 380 trains in 2006.
Rakes and block trains are operated between the following Italian towns and cities: Desio, Lecco, Carimate, Gallarate, Novara, Melzo, Brescia, Padua, Turin and Trecate. Road-rail transshipment centres in Desio, Lonato, Molteno, Oggiono, Brescia and Turin are served.
Services
SBB Cargo divides its services into door-to-door logistics concepts involving 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, Hannibal, ICF and the company's own Cargo Domino). Both standardised products and individual customer solutions are offered.
Rolling stock
By mid-2007 had SBB Cargo about 11,000 wagons in operation (more than a quarter of which are low-noise). SBB Cargo has bought 50 Re 482 dual-system freight locomotives for its Switzerland-Germany services, 15 of which can also operate in Austria. SBB Cargo is using the dual-system locomotives for its Switzerland-Italy services: 18 Re 484 locomotives and 12 Re 474 locomotives. In addition, three Am 840 diesel locomotives are in use on non-electrified lines. SBB Cargo currently has a total of 465 main-line locomotives in service, plus 200 shunting engines. For freight services in Switzerland and Germany, 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.
Key figures
SBB Cargo’s output in 2006 totalled 12.34 billion net tonne-kilometres, and a total of 56 million net tonnes of freight was transported. The lion’s share is handled by SBB subsidiaries on transalpine routes through Switzerland. In the first half of 2007, traffic grew to 6.8 billion net tonne-kilometres, a 13% increase over the previous year. While business in Switzerland remained stable in spite of growing competition, traffic performance rose by 43% in Germany (to two billion net tonne-kilometres) and by 64% in Italy. This means that almost 40% of SBB Cargo’s transport volume is handled outside Switzerland.
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 2006