European rail freight in recovery mode
Wed, 4 Aug 2010After a strong decline in European rail freight in 2008 and 2009, the noticeable recovery in the first quarter of 2010 is expected to be sustained, according to the first, intermediate results of the Booz & Company annual European Rail Freight Survey
Booz & Company’s annual European Rail Freight Survey questions the biggest European shippers, freight forwarders and logistics operators about their satisfaction with what’s on offer and their view on improvement possibilities. The goal is to present a transparent picture of the rail freight industry based on customer opinion
More than half of the respondents of the 2010 survey expect the demand for rail freight services to reach the levels of 2008 by 2012, or even earlier.
The most important factor for the re-shift of transport from road to rail, according to customers, is further price reductions for rail transport.
However, Booz & Co considers it to be very difficult for many providers to offer additional reductions after the price erosion in 2009.
For rail freight providers it will, therefore, be necessary to improve their offering significantly, says Marianne Kilpatrick, Associate in the Transport Team at Booz & Co.
She says: “It is clear that customers still value competitive pricing, customer service and reliability, but freight providers now also need to focus on ensuring wagon availability and excellent network coverage.”
Most important criteria when selecting a railway partner (% of responses) Click on image to enlarge
From a UK perspective, rail freight operators have shown greater commitment to European services with Eurotunnel’s acquisition of GB Rail Freight and the agreement between HS1 and DB Schenker to run Class 92s on the high-speed line. Each of these developments should increase the range of services on offer to the European client base.
However, the question remains as to what services will run on the high-speed line and whether rail can recapture the market share lost to road/ferry after the closure of Eurotunnel in the aftermath of the fire in 2008.
Kilpatrick adds: “Given the need for customers to receive real value from services, rail freight faces a significant challenge to increase its market share in a highly competitive market.”
Do you agree with these statements, or do you have different insights regarding the status quo and development of the industry?
All customers of rail freight transport in Europe are still invited to share their perspective on www.booz.com/railfreightsurvey.
After completing the survey, participants will receive a summary of the final results.
For details on past surveys please click here
Click here to email the editor and comment on this story
Receive our FREE news email bulletin click here
- 13 − 15 March 2012
- 22 − 23rd March 2012
- 25th April 2012 for 12 weeks.
- 12 − 14 June 2012
