An unprecedented investment has been made, so Hungary will be the gateway to Europe
The East-West gate will be completed in record time: the terminal’s builders took just one year to go from start to finish. The technical handover and trial operation of the onshore terminal using 5G technology and green energy will be in the first quarter of 2022, with live operation starting in the second quarter. The terminal, which will handle the transhipment required by the rail gauge change, will be able to handle up to 1 million 20-foot containers (TEUs) per year, making it the largest of its kind in Europe in terms of theoretical capacity and area.
Excavation work began in October 2020 on an area of 140 hectares (larger than Margaret Island), and construction work began in January this year. By now, the construction of a total of about ten kilometers of standard and wide-gauge railway has been completed, leaving only additional work for the 225,000-square-foot concrete pavement used for road transport and container storage. In the central building of the terminal, interior design works are underway, as well as a warehouse, a vehicle storage room and a container repair workshop.
The 41-meter-wide and two 28-meter-wide gantry cranes on the Felslitke terminal and a 20-meter-high rubber wheel are assembled by Künz, a leading manufacturer of intermodal loading technology. Using a 5G connection, the remotely operated giant cranes can each load 45 tons of cargo, and are unique on the continent in terms of size and technology used.
There is a great need for a new freight hub between Asia and Europe
In rail container transport, there is a shortage of capacity at continuously congested transhipment stations, leading to a significant market demand for a new intermodal terminal in the European transport sector.
János Tálosi said that rail freight traffic between Asia – currently mainly China – and Europe is growing dynamically year on year, from 2019 to 200 56 in total: from 640 TEU to 1.14 million, and growth will not stop this year also continued. On the current main transhipment route, the transhipment at Brest and Małaszewicze on the Polish-Belarusian border, the total annual capacity is about half a million TEU, so trains have to wait not only for hours but increasingly for days. Therefore, suppliers are looking for other, alternative routes, such as to other directions in Poland or even to Kaliningrad. There would be a market demand for transhipment of about 3 million TEU.
Video: János Marozsán / EWG
The problems of maritime transport – slowness, disruptions and significant price increases – are also increasing the demand for rail. The Russian state railway will spend significant sums in the coming years to develop the Trans-Siberian corridor: by 2024, it would quadruple the level of rail traffic by 2017 to speed up the movement of freight trains. Significant developments have also begun in Kazakhstan, with several transshipment points being built at the Chinese border – as the railway tracks in China have a normal track gauge.
product The EWG is also expecting a further increase in traffic because the EU’s increasingly stringent environmental regulations favor rail over road transport. It is planned that by 2035, 15 percent of freight traffic between Asia and Europe will be handled by rail, and we are talking about about four million containers a year. Therefore, there is a need for EWG capacity without taking work from other terminals already in operation. Incidentally, this is also shown by their preliminary negotiations and declarations of intent with their Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Korean partners, the company manager said.
The company is planning a gradual upswing in the first few months, primarily to get staff on a proper routine during transhipment. He believes that 2-3 years from the opening, the calculator will reach an annual turnover of 300-400 thousand TEUs, which is currently the upper limit, the Hungarian railway network will not reach more trains. Therefore, in agreement with the profession, they urge the construction of the V0 railway line bypassing Budapest.
You are reviving the logistics area
The region of north-eastern Hungary and the Hungarian economy only benefit from the investment. We also try to work with local companies for the construction, almost half of the work was done by them. Prospective workers will be recruited from the area. The terminal employs 150 people, but with a multiplier effect, the work of about 500 people can be tied to them. Their goal is to build a housing estate to provide adequate housing for young people and to make the terminal attractive to employees, János Tálosi said.
East-West Intermodal Logistics Service Ltd. supports the Záhony High School and the University of Nyíregyháza to train professionals who need them. They are building more of the shelter and other municipalities in the area, helping them with their social responsibility.
The great advantage of the EWG is that hundreds of hectares around it can be involved in the development. It can build more storage space than the other two most operational terminals combined. They expect that in 3-5 years, 200-300 thousand square meters of warehouse and assembly plant will be built, primarily for large web sellers who can take advantage of the free zone. It is Hungarian that the EWG spent many hundreds of millions on the development of the public railway network – with billions of track usage, customs and tax revenue track usage, tax and tax revenue – spent by the terminal state on calculations.
5G, digital twin and green technology at the 21st century terminal
Technological developments, which are also unique at European level, are expected to make the efficiency of a larger terminal much higher than that of traditional solutions. The programmed, remote transhipment activity, with associated tracking and security systems to get the job done faster and more accurately than the most operational transhippers.
They can load three trains at a time, and the time to reload a train, including a brake test, will be just two hours. From arrival to departure from the terminal, every single container, train, truck and person is constantly inspected and monitored, so you can avoid possible violations and accidental replacement of containers, he warned the manager.
As a world first, EWG’s digital twin is being built with the help of a Hungarian startup, which tracks the processes and operation of the logistics center in real time in 3D – the movement of trains, trucks, cranes, transport vehicles and the movement of goods. helps design, optimize, and increase processes in line with Industry 4.0 principles. With 5G technology, the company can communicate in real time with its Kazakh partner, Eurotransit’s China-Kazakh border terminal, significantly speeding up administration for incoming shipments.
The terminal contributes to sustainable development mainly through its basic operation and the spread of environmentally friendly rail freight. The products are eco-conscious in their own operation: the facility is implemented with green technology, energy supply is provided by, among other things, a high-performance solar park, a solar energy storage system and a heat pump system. Only electric terminal tractors and e-cars will be used in the terminal area.
The publication of our article was supported by East-West Intermodal Logistics Service Ltd.