Mercitalia Pole: From Italy to Northern Europe client-oriented freight transport and logistics

links created by TX Logistik Switzerland, from December 2017
along the Rhine-Alpine Core Corridor using the Lötschberg Tunnel and the Gotthard Base Tunnel
German company TX Logistik adds impetus to European expansion

The Mercitalia Pole looks to the European market to expand its business.

From December 2017, the Mercitalia Pole with its company TX Logistik Switzerland will transport rail freight between the Po Valley in Northern Italy and Northern Europe (Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands).

A new strategic approach with dual value. On one hand it means efficient use of the railway axes of the European Rhine-Alpine Core Corridor, the Lötschberg Tunnel and the new Gotthard Base Tunnel (operational since December 2016). On the other hand it makes it possible to serve clients with greater capillarity, making best use of corporate assets and adding value to the investments planned in the 2017-2026 Industrial Plan.

The Industrial Plan calls for investments of 1.5 billion euros. Over one billion for the purchase of locomotives and wagons, 100 million for intermodal terminals (expansion and improvement of sites in Milan, Brescia and Piacenza), 100 million for IT and security, and approximately 250 million for the acquisition of other businesses. The Mercitalia Pole has already put in place the bases for the first results. In February 2017, Mercitalia Rail and TX Logistik (together) began the process of acquiring up to 125 new electric locomotives in the coming years (for a value of 350 million euros) for both the European and Italian markets. Mercitalia Rail has published an expression of interest in acquiring 200 new wagons (for a value of approximately 15 million euros). Mercitalia Rail and Cemat have launched the purchasing process for 250 new wagons to transport iron and steel products and mega semi-trailers (for a value of over 20 million euros).

The Mercitalia Pole was presented in Munich to the international world of logistics and freight attending Transport Logistic, the most important trade exhibition in the sector. The presentation was made by Renato Mazzoncini, CEO and Director General of FS Italiane and Marco Gosso, CEO and Director General of Mercitalia Logistics.

„Mercitalia Pole’s target market,“ underlines Marco Gosso, „is Europe: in view of this, our – ambitious – objective is to serve clients while relying exclusively on internal production capacity. Starting from Italian terminals, the trains will travel to Northern Europe with decidedly superior speed and capillarity, unlike in the past, and in line with the strategic and business objectives of the Pole. This is an undertaking that, over the next ten years, will lead to more than half our business turnover being generated from international activities.“

TX Logistik, a subsidiary with headquarters in Germany, will add impetus to the European expansion of the Mercitalia Pole. In recent months it has been at the centre of an important business transformation, with a complete change of senior management.

This is where TX Logistik makes a decisive contribution with its highly developed network and special expertise in the field of integrated rail logistics. The company has operated as a traction provider and operator for 20 years, and is optimally positioned to develop European logistics chains.

„With us, it becomes possible to move your goods along the most important Corridors,“ says Mirko Pahl, Chief Executive Officer of TX Logistik. „Following a period of consolidation, we now find ourselves with a new management and on a straight path to growth, with ambitious targets. In the short and medium terms, we intend to grow into new market segments and corridors, so as in the long term to take more volume off the roads and onto the rails. We have to make rail more attractive, in order to organise socio-economically and ecologically sound transport for the future.“

TX Logistik is strengthening this identity with investments to provide for better control of quality, efficiency and costs, and with innovations which make access to the railway network easier. „The future is on the rails,“ Mirko Pahl explains. „This conviction is also becoming visible in our new public image: Offroad, we are supplying sustainable solutions for goods traffic.“