Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and GB Railfreight have entered into a new five-year agreement, strengthening their long-established relationship aiming to increase wagon utilisation that in turn will help further reduce carbon emissions.
The services will operate from Felixstowe and London Gateway to both the Midlands and Yorkshire, with a minimum commitment of five days a week. Over the course of the next five years, the deal will remain agile and be able to provide flexibility to changing market dynamics while supporting MSC’s intermodal volume growth, according to a statement.
“Increased wagon utilisation was a key component from the start and engagement with ports and inland terminals to support this initiative took place early on,” commented the Swiss-based container carrier which has also highlighted that GBRf has been a provider of rail services to MSC since 2002.
“Our new shared contract will allow both MSC and GBRf to continue our work in taking steps to reduce CO2 emissions by moving containers via rail, closer to final destination,” added MSC.
In addition, John Smith, managing director at GB Railfreight, noted that “Given MSC’s projected future growth we have struck a flexible agreement which will allow both parties to make better use of the services we share.
According to the announcement, both GBRf and MSC will be further supporting their customers’ supply chains with increased stability, flexibility and sustainability.