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hinterland<br />
transport connections<br />
The strong growth in the number<br />
of containers handled by the<br />
Ceres Paragon terminal in <strong>2006</strong><br />
led to the expansion and intensification<br />
of intermodal hinterland<br />
connections with the Port<br />
of Amsterdam.<br />
In January <strong>2006</strong>, AMSbarge<br />
was launched. The innovative<br />
AMSbarge system consists of<br />
a purpose designed container<br />
barge equipped with its own<br />
heavy container crane; as well<br />
as pickup and delivery sites for<br />
containers used by companies<br />
located on or near the water in<br />
the northern part of the Randstad<br />
area. By doing so, AMSbarge<br />
provides a highly efficient and<br />
sustainable linkup between the<br />
port and its hinterland transport<br />
connections.<br />
In <strong>2006</strong>, various barge shuttle<br />
services to Germany were launched.<br />
Likewise, a new weekly<br />
barge container service be-<br />
tween Amsterdam and Basel,<br />
Switzerland, was started.<br />
Beyond that, March <strong>2006</strong> saw<br />
the commencement of a threetimes-a-week<br />
rail shuttle service<br />
between the Port of Amsterdam<br />
and Duisburg, Germany. In<br />
December, a weekly rail shuttle<br />
service was inaugurated between<br />
the Ceres Paragon terminal<br />
and/or the USA terminal and<br />
the Dutch town of Coevorden.<br />
The Port of Amsterdam and<br />
Coevorden have jointly set up<br />
cargo transport services to and<br />
from Eastern Europe and are<br />
examining possible forms of<br />
cooperation with other logistics<br />
hubs, such as inland-waterway<br />
ports and railroad hubs.<br />
Agreement was reached on realizing<br />
three railroad projects,<br />
which, from 2008 or 2009, will<br />
improve the accessibility of the<br />
Westpoort port section: namely<br />
the expansion of the Westhavenweg<br />
railroad yard to accommo-<br />
date longer freight trains; the<br />
construction of a new railroad<br />
yard near the Aziëhavenweg; as<br />
well as direct rail connection<br />
between the Aziëhavenweg<br />
railroad yard and the main rail<br />
line near Sloterdijk.<br />
The Port of Amsterdam, the<br />
Port of Rotterdam and ProRail<br />
(responsible for the Dutch rail<br />
infrastructure) took a 15% stake<br />
(to a maximum of EUR 3 million)<br />
in Keyrail – the company set up<br />
in <strong>2006</strong> to operate the Betuwe<br />
Line. The Betuwe Line is a 160kilometer-long<br />
dedicated rail<br />
line for goods transport and<br />
runs from the Port of Rotterdam<br />
to the German Border. Cargo<br />
from Amsterdam or bound for<br />
Amsterdam will make use of the<br />
rail line to Utrecht, which runs<br />
on to the town of Geldermalsen,<br />
where it links up with the Betuwe<br />
Line. The four parties expect<br />
the Betuwe Line to break even<br />
from 2011 onward.
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