An integral consideration must be leading in the choice of modality and not just the transport price.

In 2015, together with 7 other steel companies, we launched ‘ Steelport Maastricht ’, a partnership with the aim of improving our market position and being more visible, both regionally and internationally. The companies are all located in the same business park and offer work to just under 1,000 employees within a radius of 500 meters.

Chain director with central warehouse
Depending on the price, availability and quality of the steel, steel processors and steel users purchase their steel from factories in the EU or import steel from overseas territories. The delivery time from overseas areas is a lot longer. However, end users in the automotive industry or other industries cannot afford to have the production process shut down due to lack of steel stock. In order to absorb the stock fluctuations, there is therefore a need for intermediate storage. In addition, for many end users, customer-specific operations must be performed on the steel, such as decoiling, slitting, pickling, etc.
Partly due to the favorable location of Maastricht in relation to the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam, the trimodal access to the European hinterland and the presence of Steel Service Centers in the immediate vicinity, forms Steel Solutions B.V. an important logistics hub with central warehouse for many large steel manufacturers service centers and end users. After all, from our stock location we can quickly and reliably deliver the (processed) steel products to the end users. Through our control Tower we direct the entire logistics for our customers including storage, distribution, processing and customs activities. This also forms an extended gate in steel for the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam.

Integral consideration in modality choice
The steel manufacturers prefer to deliver their stock to us by rail. After all, rail freight transport offers a lot of economies of scale compared to road transport. A trailer has a maximum payload of 24 tons in Germany. If a steel coil weighs 15 tons, you can only transport 1 steel coil per trailer, while a wagon can transport 64 tons. This offers many more variants to achieve the most efficient loading rate.
Inland shipping is of course also an option for a number of factories, but the disadvantage is that condensation can get on the steel and that requires special packaging. Apart from the extra costs involved in packaging and on-site logistics, packaging is also environmentally harmful. In this respect, an integral consideration must be leading in the choice of modality and not just the transport price. Unfortunately, this does not happen everywhere, otherwise I think much more track could be transported.
Modal shift and growth for the track
When we started Steel Solutions B.V. Although there was a track at the door, it was hardly used until then. Due to the need in the market for intermediate storage, I saw strategic value in this piece of track and I have submitted the request to ProRail and the municipality to extend the piece of track to our shed. This turned out to be a rather difficult process afterwards because of the costs involved in the rehabilitation of the existing track. Ultimately, we succeeded in 2016 and our terminal is now operated 8 times a week. Thanks to our direct rail connection, we have managed to achieve a significant modal shift in recent years. Steel, for example, from factories in Italy and intended for end users in the Benelux and West Germany, was previously (large) partly supplied by road, but now goes by rail. Partly due to the growth that Steel Solutions B.V. we are currently doing approximately 6,000 tons of inbound per track per week and approximately 1,500 tons of outbound per track per week. It was impossible for us to load such volumes by truck in our warehouse. In addition, we expect growth on the track to continue. We see that customers are increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability and are also confronted with increasing driver shortages, tolls and congestion in road transport. At the same time, loading and unloading trains is more efficient than loading the same amount of material with the truck. Due to our director’s position, more and more customers also leave the choice to us.

Steel Port Road Train
Thanks to the large volumes that we receive, we have the advantage that there is always capacity of wagons available for the outgoing flows. We therefore try to offer our customers as much as possible by rail. Unfortunately, this does not always work. Sometimes because of the urgency in transport, but partly also because of the relatively high costs in pre- and post-transport. Pre- and post transport to and from the Service Centers is currently carried out with normal trucks, which has a limit of up to 30 tons per journey. This makes the pre- and post-transport by rail relatively expensive.
To make the track competitive, we have a special vehicle developed with which more than 100 tons can be transported per shuttle ride. In addition, this truck can unload itself, preventing unnecessary waiting times. We are at an advanced stage with the municipality of Maastricht to get a permit for this so-called ‘ SteelPort Road Train ’. Our success story shows that rail freight traffic is still of great added value for various transport flows, such as steel and also the future. It only requires vision, perseverance and an integral consideration.