WienCont: Clearly positive development despite competitive pressure
Despite the decline in container handling in the previous year, Kurt Gollowitzer, Managing Director of Wien Holding, Fritz Lehr, Commercial Director of the Port of Vienna, and Doris Pulker-Rohrhofer, Technical Director of the Port of Vienna, seemed quite confident during their presentation of the 2018 balance sheet in the Marina Wien. “We assume that this was a one-time effect,” they said.
WienCont handled around 350,000 TEU in 2018. This is a 13.6%-decrease compared to the previous year (2017: 405,000 TEU). The decrease is owed to the ÖBB’s new cargo hub Güterzentrum Wien Süd Inzersdorf, where ÖBB has shifted the trains of its Rail Cargo Group. This affected about 30 per cent of the rail volume in the port of Vienna.
However, WienCont managed to compensate for almost half of the lost volume of ÖBB. For 2019 they expect to hanlde 400,000 container units. In line with that, Hafen Wien and WienCont have developed their business model to be able to cover the entire value chain in intermodal transport.
The purchase of a 60%-stake in Fehringer Technical Service Consulting GmbH is intended to make services in the repair and service sector more flexible and time-saving. From now on, container repair services can now also be handled outside the terminal, ie mobile.
The rapid implementation of the automation of the container terminal in 2017 and 2018 through the modernisation of the Ingate – as part of the development of a terminal operating management system specially designed for the terminal – has been largely completed and now saves time in the truck transport sector up to 30 minutes per run.
Up to 90 weekly container trains commute between the port of Vienna and many European seaports. New connections were added. Since the beginning of May 2019, the new rail shuttle Rotterdam-Vienna v.v. with four weekly trains is operated via the WienCont terminal. This new train product of the Ecco-Rail railway company is organised with maximum train utilisation right from the start, to create a direct connection with the UK.
In addition, a new relation between Vienna and Ludwigshafen (traction provider: WLC Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo) will be implemented in September. A further connection is also planned for non-cranable semi-trailers between Vienna and Duisburg.
