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Digital forwarder and Italian rail firm to revolutionise multimodal freight

[ March 15, 2024   //   ]

Berlin-based digital freight forwarder Sennder has gone into partnership with Italian train company Mercitalia Logistics to make rail and road transportation more efficient and sustainable.

The two operators between them transport over 53 million tonnes of goods – 41m on 100,000 trains operated by Mercitalia, and 12 million tons on the million truckloads on Sennder’s road network. By integrating rail and road, the partnership aims to optimize efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions, while enhancing service provision.

The aim is ultimately to build a digital European intermodal operator.

Completion of the venture is subject to a feasibility study, competition and regulatory approvals and completion of legal agreements.

Sennder also signed a partnership with Poste Italiane last year and the postal operator has also joined with Mercitalia new agreement. The deal also includes Mercitalia’s holding company, the Italian state railways – Ferrovie dello Stato.

Sennder and Mercitalia have signed a letter of intent with the goal of forming a ‘NewCo’ dedicated to developing a leading European operator for future intermodal logistics solutions.

The partnership will develop proprietary technology for sustainable road freight and cargo transport, integrating rail and road to reduce carbon footprint and enhance service delivery across Europe. By combining sennder’s expertise in road freight logistics and technology with Mercitalia’s rail freight experience, the collaboration will introduce sustainable intermodal logistics solutions for European. Sennder will handle the first and last mile of intermodal transports, using green transport solutions such as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

In 2023, Sennder set up JUNA, a joint venture with truck-maker Scania to commercialise electric vehicles with a pay-per-use model, and this will support the new Mercitalia partnership by moving trailers to and from rail terminals. The expanded 10-year €5.2bn partnership with Poste Italiane, could deliver end-to-end logistics solutions with warehousing, complementing the Mercitalia collaboration.

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