Freight News, Rail, Sea


Ports of Normandy opens Cherbourg rail terminal – updated

[ July 18, 2025   //   ]

Ports of Normandy officially opened its piggyback road-rail terminal at Cherbourg on 17 July in the presence of dignitaries including Ireland’s ambassador to France, Niall Burgess as well as officials from Brittany Ferries and local and national government.

Opening of the terminal will pave the way for setting up a rail link between Cherbourg and Mouguerre on the French-Spanish border in the southwest of the country. Operators will be able to send trailers by sea-and-rail, from the UK and Ireland without the need for an accompanying driver. The service is described as ro-ro-rail, because the trailer sails across the Channel by ferry before transferring to France’s rail network, or vice-versa. Trailers are first delivered to ports like Poole or Portsmouth or Rosslare in Ireland and are then transported onto ferries by tugs. Following the voyage to France, they are disembarked by tug before being loaded onto the train in Cherbourg.

. ModaLohr technology allows 12 trailers to be loaded or unloaed simultaneously and trains of up to 750m long can be handled.

Each wagon carries two trailers and features so-called ‘pivoting pockets’. These shift 45 degrees to allow a trailer and tug to access the wagon. When in place, the tug withdraws, the pockets with trailer swivels back in line and the train prepares for departure.

Once secured, the train departs and, at destination, are collected by a driver for delivery.

The port of Cherbourg currently handles over 90,000 trailers a year of which the vast majority  (84,500) are to or from Ireland.

Recent trends in the freight market including Brexit and environmental considerations have boosted unaccompanied traffic

The €11.2m total investment has come from a combination of regional and local government, Ports of Normandy and the EU.

Brittany Ferries says that its rail motorway route would allow 25,000 trailers a year to be transferred to sea-rail transport. It plans to increase services from the current four in each direction every week to five by the end of the year, rising to a daily return service in 2026.

Following a soft launch in June, the service has now garnered strong interest among large and small companies, says Brittany Ferries.

The service is operated with two trains, each with space for up to 36 trailers.  The rail link between Cherbourg and Mouguerre is run by its subsidiary BAI Rail. Which has invested in 47 Lohr wagons specially designed for the route.

President of Brittany Ferries, Jean-Marc Roué,  said: “The two largest hybrid ferries in the European Union joined our fleet in spring, powered by LNG, and electricity. Now we have a multimodal motorway now linking Ireland, the UK and Spain by rail and sea.”

Philippe Tabarot French minister for transport, who was in Cherbourg for the inauguration of the route, said: “By launching an additional transport link from Cherbourg, the new rail terminal strengthens the strategic position of French ports in European freight operations. This multimodal network, operated by Brittany Ferries, is also a pioneering service. It is the first to transport non-accompanied trailers on the Atlantic arc, a major freight traffic corridor. While helping reduce CO₂ emissions by shifting traffic to rail and sea, the service will also relieve congestion on roads, thereby contributing to more sustainable logistics.”

Trucks will no longer be at the mercy of traffic and delays on the French road network and Brittany Ferries estimates a saving of one tonne of CO2 for every trailer carried by rail, compared with it travelling by road. It also reduces wear and tear on truck and trailer.

Brittany Ferries director ports and operations, Frédéric Pouget, added: “Adding rail to the Brittany Ferries portfolio is a natural progression of what we have done for the last 53 years. We have seen a surge in transport of driverless loads, which means trailers travelling on ships without tractor units and drivers.

“We are responding to this demand, extending services across the spine of Western France, in addition to those that we offer by sea across the Atlantic arc. What we have to offer is the greenest and most efficient way to transport goods. For Brittany Ferries 2025 is truly the year of multi-modal delivery.”

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