FOOD LOGISTICS ThE iDEA foR ThE fRiEs ExPREss ARosE AT lAsT yEAR’s fEsTiVE oPENiNg of KloosTERboER lElysTAD.
The Fries Express 7,000 truck rides shift to barge All photos courtesy of Kloosterboer.
The Dutch Modal Programme is aiming to shift 2,000TEU per day from the road to inland navigation along the RotterdamVenlo and Rotterdam-Arnhem/Nijmegen corridors before 2040. In concrete terms, this means 1,000 trailer trucks (most of which carry two containers) per day off the road and 1,000 more containers that are transported via inland navigation. This will lead to fewer traffic jams and lower CO2 emission levels. If the programme is successful, a similar programme can be introduced for railway transport. Like every plan, things are often easier said than done. A fine example of a modal shift is the so-called Fries Express, which is a recent collaboration between potato fries producer McCain Food Holland and logistics service provider Kloosterboer.
Coldstore Lelystad According to Fred Compeer, General Manager Intermodal of Kloosterboer, the idea was founded in June 2019. “McCain and Kloosterboer have been working together for quite some time now,” he says, “and this is why we regularly meet to discuss the operation. But in this case, the idea for the Fries Express arose at last year’s festive opening of Kloosterboer Lelystad.” “For us, Kloosterboer is an important logistics service provider,” adds
Ronald Dees, Project Manager of McCain Foods Holland, “and in the past we have looked into the idea of the modal shift several times, but until now only with a few successes and surely not with the projected volume that we want to move via the Fries Express.”
From truck to barge In the past, 4,500 truck rides were conducted every year from McCain’s production site in Lewedorp (near Vlissingen) to Kloosterboer’s distribution centre in Lelystad, and another 2,500 rides from Rotterdam to Lelystad to load containers. In the new situation, McCain Lewedorp directly delivers the full containers to Kloosterboer Vlissingen for barge transport to Lelystad. From Lelystad, the full export containers are transported by barge to Rotterdam. Furthermore, export containers from local producers of onion/potato products are transported from Lelystad to Vlissingen by barge for further transport to West Africa. For the service, two barges are used that are equipped with reefer plugs to keep the containers refrigerated during transport, and another two barges are under construction.
In intense year After an intense year of preparations, the Fries Express started to operate in August of this year. “Changing volume from road to barge was quite a challenge, not just financially”, Mr Compeer states. He explains, “Transporting something from A to B sounds simple, yet behind this hides a complex process with many aspects that need to be considered. We looked into every aspect
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