Full provision has been made for the carriage of the complete range of unitised equipment, with initial focus on pallet-wide high cube 45ft containers, curtain-siders, flat-racks and reefers.

The Rotterdam-Melzo operation builds on the success of longstanding dedicated block train services offered through the Samskip Van Dieren Multimodal brand, connecting Sweden and the continent.

Via the Rotterdam Shortsea Terminal, regular scheduled Samskip shortsea services connect for instance with the UK/Ireland, Scandinavia, the Baltic States, Russia and Iceland. Meanwhile, transit times between the RSC and Melzo will be achieved in under 30 hours, with rail traction provided through an agreement between Samskip and Deutsche Bahn. From Melzo, Samskip will offer onward connections to/from rail terminals in Padova, Frosinone and Bari.

“Customers in this important trade corridor are very demanding when it comes to both the reliability and sustainability of the services they use,” says David Besseling, Samskip Manager multimodal services – Italy trade. “One selling point of this new service is that we have complete control over the train schedule, capacity and equipment, connecting intermodal and shortsea services to fit our customers’ needs.”

Expectations are high that uptake of the new service will be strong, with Samskip Multimodal indicating that it envisages a service extension to six train departures per week by the middle of next year.

The deal will enable ABP to continue to meet key performance indicators for its blue chip customers, including a tight 30-minute turnaround time. Both machines will be supplied with Kalmar’s unique integrated ground-stabilizer system, which increases the capacity of the machine in second and third rail operations.

“At Hams Hall we value our drivers and want to give them the best tools for the job. Kalmar’s excellent cab ergonomics and after-sales support were key to the deal,” says Mike Gibson, Hams Hall Terminal Manager.

The fifth-generation Gloria DRG450 reachstacker offers customers market-leading productivity and lifetime value. The product of decades of research and development, Gloria is now regarded as the highest quality, most innovative and reliable reachstacker available today, with significantly lower maintenance requirements and downtime than competing solutions.

For drivers, the EGO cab offers an all-new operating experience with a panoramic view, intuitive interfaces and ergonomically designed controls. With Gloria’s technology delivering an improved operator experience, safety standards have been considerably improved. Gloria reachstackers include a reversing camera with integrated proximity sensors and a tyre-pressure monitoring system as standard.

The deal extends Kalmar’s cooperation with ABP, adding to the four Kalmar reachstackers already in use.

ABP is the UK’s leading ports group, operating 21 ports around the country with a total annual TEU of 100,000.

The project represents the initial phase of the development of planned rail service into the Bayport Intermodal Yard. At full development, three parallel tracks will service the intermodal yard and are expected to handle as much as 20 percent of the overall container volume through the Bayport Terminal.

The project will provide a number of significant benefits, including:
• Creating more jobs for the local community.
• Providing cheaper transportation of consumer goods.
• Facilitating growth of the terminal as a regional conduit for containerized cargo.
• Enabling removal of trucks from the highway by transferring a portion of the container volume to rail. This will improve the regional air quality and highway safety by taking trucks off the road.
• Expanding the market potential for import and export of containers through the Port of Houston.

“The Port of Houston provides a tremendous benefit to the local, state and national economy,” said Ty Thomas, LAN’s vice president. “We are pleased to continue our long history of service to the Port Authority and partner with them to make their vision of providing rail service into the Bayport Terminal a reality.”

The project will cross three state highways using quiet zone systems. PHA and LAN will coordinate with local community partners to make the project as community-friendly as possible through the implementation of quiet zone rail crossings, and potential installation of sound walls. The project will be constructed in concert with a separate project to build a 20-foot high sight-and-sound berm that will help shield the rail line from the adjacent communities.

The project also will involve modifications to rail tracks serving an existing industry and add two potential new industry service tracks. Other elements of the project include pipeline and utility crossings and associated adjustments, analysis and mitigation of floodplain impacts to a regional drainage corridor, stormwater analysis and new culvert crossings of regional drainage systems, crossing and partial filling of an existing private detention pond, and design of the overall railroad drainage system.

The design of the USD13.8 million project will be completed in mid-2015 with construction starting later in the year.

JLT first entered the US market in 1999 and has since 2007 been the Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) of Vehicle-Mount Terminals (VMTs) for DAP Technologies, who has sold the computers under the DAP brand in North America. JLT takes over an organization of 13 employees from DAP to perform the sales, services and staging of its VMTs across the North American market. US customers that today buy VMTs from DAP will benefit from a closer relationship with the original manufacturer while experiencing continuity of staff, service and product quality.

The new JLT US organisation is led by Eric Miller, former VP of Sales at DAP. The US subsidiary of JLT is located in the former DAP facilities in Tempe, Arizona and takes over all existing customer agreements including warranty commitments and services contracts for the DAP VMT products. JLT also takes over existing reseller agreements and relationships.

“Since the company was founded, the US market has accounted for a substantial part of JLT’s overall sales, thus constituting a key strategic market for JLT. Over time, we have formed a productive and close partnership based on mutual respect and trust with our US sales partner, so I’m thrilled to be working with this extraordinary team under this new structure,” said Per Holmberg, CEO of JLT Mobile Computers AB.

“Having our own local JLT sales office and experienced sales organization will give US customers the benefit of working closely with the original design manufacturer, while continuing to deal with the same local staff and benefit from the same local services and support,” added Eric Miller, CEO of the newly founded JLT Mobile Computers. Inc. in the US. The transition will be completed by December 31, 2014.