International transport group AWT has finished the next stage of modernisation of its independent intermodal transport terminal in Ostrava-Paskov. As a result, the shipment handling surface is now completely paved, there is expanded storage capacity and, most importantly, the time required to unload a container train has been cut to a mere 30 minutes.
Last year’s terminal modernisation phase earned recognition when it won first prize in the “Volná cesta” [Free Way] contest organised by the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic and the Transport Federation. To date, AWT has invested more than CZK 150 million in the terminal.
The Ostrava-Paskov terminal sees some 20 container trains coming and going every week, substituting for hundreds of road trucks. They arrive mainly from key European seaports, such as Rotterdam, Koper and Hamburg, as well as from the Italian city of Verona’s inland shipping hub. The intermodal transport approach means road transport is only utilised to cover the “last mile”, i.e. for the initial collection and final distribution of transported goods.
The terminal’s handling area, where huge Hyster and Kalmar reachstackers reload containers from trains to trucks spans an impressive 31,000 m2. Approximately one third of this expanse was paved last year, while interlocking pavement was used to stabilise the remainder this year. Consequently, the terminal’s storage capacity has increased from 1,700 containers (twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU) to the current 2,400 TEU, while the unloading of a container train now takes approximately half an hour.
“Continuous development and innovation at the Ostrava-Paskov terminal enable us to provide quicker services of better quality to our customers. Our plans for the future include further developments at the terminal as we see a big future in intermodal transport,” said Edin Sose, AWT’s Chief Commercial Officer.
It was the systematic development of the transshipment yard, paid for from AWT’s own financial resources, a clear vision of the future and the multiplication effects of intermodal transport that saw AWT win first prize in the “Volná cesta” contest organised by the Ministry of Transport and the Transport Federation, a civic association.
Operations at the Ostrava-Paskov terminal, created on a brownfield site, commenced in 2007. Initially, only several hundred shipments were handled each month, compared to the figure of up to 70,000 containers and swap bodies that AWT forecasts will pass through the terminal this year. The terminal saw an extensive modernisation phase last year, when draining and paving of part of the handling surface was followed by the extension of the service rail track, the refurbishment of the points ladder, with the installation of four new points, and the installation of new safety equipment. Two brand new rail tracks were also laid.
The terminal is located amid several industrial zones in the Moravian-Silesian Region, with proximity to a motorway and the Slovak and Polish borders. It also provides easy links to key European seaports. Today, the terminal provides work for 30 people, compared to the two employees that were required initially. In addition to reloading and the collection and distribution of containers, truck trailers and swap bodies, the Ostrava-Paskov terminal also offers the dispatching of complete trains as well as individual truck consignments.
