Due to the increasing level of demand for the shipment of cargo between Rotterdam and Italy, the Dutch rail operator Shuttlewise has opened a new rail shuttle connection for containers between the Port of Rotterdam and the Mortara rail terminal in northern Italy.

Since this service has launched it has been a resounding success, and so the service will be increasing from three to five times a week in the near future. The operator is currently focusing on containers and swapbodies but trailers will also be added at a later date.

The efficiency of goods flow management is essential to any company with an interest in auto relocation services and this new intermodal service will provide to be very important as it opens up the possibilities for large transshipments between the two European countries.

The terminal at Mortara can handle up to 1.5m tones of intermodal cargo per year. Therefore, the introduction of the Shuttlewise service will most definitely ease the burden on other intermodal terminals in the area and improve the overall efficiency of container shuttle services from the Port of Rotterdam, which is the largest port in Europe.

The dispute between the French ferry company and its negotiations with unions had been dragging on since November 2009, but an agreement has finally been reached over the rescue plan. SeaFrance announced that it is now ready to start implementing the recovery plan which includes redundancy and productivity arrangements.

The firm had been in dispute with the union for some time and thought that the recovery plan signed before Christmas would be the end of the matter. However, the union believed the agreements did not conform to the rescue plan and so put up further resistance to these changes and large-scale redundancies.

The cross-Channel ferry operator may have had to go to court to settle the dispute, further putting the future of the company in jeopardy. The agreement, as brokered by a mediator, means that the redundancy program can now go ahead and other recovery measures can be instigated.

The recovery plan means that 482 of the 1,580 workforce will have to be laid off. However, 413 of those made redundant will be able to take up the offer of alternative work with SeaFrance owner and railway services provider SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français).

This is certainly positive news for car haulers and those companies involved with relocation services as the passenger/freight services offered by the fleet will continue as usual.