Aertssen Logistics uses 1 000 trucks less thanks to a direct train connection from Grenoble to Antwerp for the transport of excavators and bulldozers /Aertssen Logistics
With a direct train connection to Grenoble (France) the Antwerp transport company Aertssen Logistics has recently reduced the number of trucks it was sending over the Antwerp Ring by thousand, it claims. The company specializes in the storage, modification, and dispatch of heavy construction and agricultural machinery, among others.
Every year, the family business handles some 15 000 machines. From Grenoble, three freight trains with excavators and bulldozers depart weekly to Aertssen Logistics in the port of Antwerp. These machines are destined for export all over the world. As a result, a thousand fewer trucks are used.
Shipit Terminal
In the Waasland Port, Aertssen Logistics has a site of 23 hectares and a multimodal terminal of 10 hectares. The ‘Shipit Terminal’, part of the Aertssen group, is ideally accessible by water, rail, and road. Because rail transport emits considerably less carbon dioxide than road transport, the logistics player opted for a direct connection with the machine manufacturer.
The group purchased the Shipit Terminal in 2018. It gave Aertssen Logistics a turntable for ro-ro, breakbulk, and container volumes, as well as a container freight station near the deep-sea terminals at the Deurganckdok in the port of Antwerp.
Hydrogen trucks
“The modal shift is in full swing,” says Sam Aertssen, Business Unit Manager of Aertssen Transport & Aertssen Logistics in the Gazet Van Antwerpen. “If there is an affordable alternative to road, then we are committed to it. Doesn’t it have to be by road? Then in time, we want to achieve this at the lowest possible emissions.”
Aertssen Logistics also has 10 hydrogen trucks in pre-order at Nikola Corporation. The company is also investigating how it can produce hydrogen itself via its own wind turbines and solar panels.
