DB Cargo UK being sold

[The Planner]

Yes. Makes you wonder if it was a low ball bid knowing they will be selling up.

More to it than that from what I hear.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Yep, he didn't understand the British freight business, thinking he could reproduce the US model and was eventually forced to resign from Wisconsin Central. It was the (obnoxious) Brian Mawhinney, onetime Minister of Transport, who did the deal - having previously split the rail freight businees into three pointless competing companies.

Burkhardt's track record in the privatisation of New Zealand and Estonian railways was poor too - they are back now in state hands. Looking him up I see he is still with us at 88.

As I've said here before, he thought that there were great opportunities in GB because rail only moved about 5% of all 'freight' tonne-miles, so a seemingly small increase - another 5% - would double the size of the business. He should have asked for the percentage of all tonne-miles that were appropriate for bulk rail freight transport and already moved by rail, and it was a much bigger percentage. Class 66s aren't very good at doorstep milk deliveries

Ed didn't understand his relationship with Railtrack. Was very rude about them, then surprised that they found another operator to move their materials trains. A very large proportion of all freight in the South East was lost.

Wisconsin Central itself had a few 'events'; from memory, the following at least;
They decided that their roundhouse in a town was ripe for redevelopment so they blew it up. Unfortunately it had a lot of asbestos in it, that predictably floated down from the sky onto the town.
Then there was the derailment that included chemical tankers resulting in an explosion and fire that burned for a couple of weeks in Weyauwega. I think this was the one when Ed turned up in the devastated town and told everyone that it wasn't a big deal. It didn't go down well for him.
I have a hazy memory of another mishap involving a runaway train bit I'm not sure.

In NZ, again from memory of an item in Private Eye, the station and last few miles of track into Auckland were sold off lucratively for redevelopment, with a new station built inevitably a few miles out of the city.

 

[BRX]

It’s another nail in the coffin for hopes of increasing international railfreight though, given their wide-reaching connections (across Europe and all the way into China) DB are usually considered the best prospect of growing longhaul railfreight networks, but which look ever more unlikely to materialise

I guess this depends how hard they have been trying though, and what the motivations of any new operator are.

 

[Solweytracker]

EWS got their expansion hopes economically completely wrong e.g. wagonload's eventual complete demise was in the opposite direction to Ed Burkhardt's plan and hopes. However neither Ed and EWS nor DB could have predicted the speed in which the progressive and huge deindustrialisation of the UK would decimate their core traffics such as iron and steel and other metals, coal, oil and chemicals, MOD traffics and intermediate goods. If one looks at early Michael Rhodes and Paul Shannon Freight Only books the plants and factories listed and pictured therein have virtually all disappeared.

 

[Merle Haggard]

EWS got their expansion hopes economically completely wrong e.g. wagonload's eventual complete demise was in the opposite direction to Ed Burkhardt's plan and hopes. However neither Ed and EWS nor DB could have predicted the speed in which the progressive and huge deindustrialisation of the UK would decimate their core traffics such as iron and steel and other metals, coal, oil and chemicals, MOD traffics and intermediate goods. If one looks at early Michael Rhodes and Paul Shannon Freight Only books the plants and factories listed and pictured therein have virtually all disappeared.

What was with hindsight a poor decision but probably seeming over-due at the time was the investment in electricity coal traffic. There were masses of bogie coal wagons delivered and I sometimes pass once well-known coal locations - Worksop is an example I think - where the yards, after years of rundown chaired track, were re-laid with FB rail and properly ballasted.
Seeing that, with the railheads rusting, and stored wagons of (to me!) very recent construction, is very sad imo.
Oil and, perhaps surprisingly, chalk was moved to long distance pipelines from rail.

 

[ExRes]

The biggest thing Burkhardt got wrong was the idea that he could sack all the staff and offer them jobs at a lower pay rate with no benefits, he may have got away with it in the US and other countries he got his slimy claws on but there were laws against his methods over here, along with that was his total misunderstanding of where the profits would come from, he treated the Royal Mail contract with contempt and look what happened there

 

[piers1234]

The biggest thing Burkhardt got wrong was the idea that he could sack all the staff and offer them jobs at a lower pay rate with no benefits, he may have got away with it in the US and other countries he got his slimy claws on but there were laws against his methods over here, along with that was his total misunderstanding of where the profits would come from, he treated the Royal Mail contract with contempt and look what happened there

I don't believe fire and refire as been banned in the UK?

 

[piers1234]

Yes. Makes you wonder if it was a low ball bid knowing they will be selling up

Isn't that what GBrf has been doing for years?

Freight race to the bottom.

DB at the bottom so sell up or go bust.

Same as what's happened to the UK trucking industry.

 

[Rail Ranger]

As I've said here before, he thought that there were great opportunities in GB because rail only moved about 5% of all 'freight' tonne-miles, so a seemingly small increase - another 5% - would double the size of the business. He should have asked for the percentage of all tonne-miles that were appropriate for bulk rail freight transport and already moved by rail, and it was a much bigger percentage. Class 66s aren't very good at doorstep milk deliveries

Ed didn't understand his relationship with Railtrack. Was very rude about them, then surprised that they found another operator to move their materials trains. A very large proportion of all freight in the South East was lost.

Wisconsin Central itself had a few 'events'; from memory, the following at least;
They decided that their roundhouse in a town was ripe for redevelopment so they blew it up. Unfortunately it had a lot of asbestos in it, that predictably floated down from the sky onto the town.
Then there was the derailment that included chemical tankers resulting in an explosion and fire that burned for a couple of weeks in Weyauwega. I think this was the one when Ed turned up in the devastated town and told everyone that it wasn't a big deal. It didn't go down well for him.
I have a hazy memory of another mishap involving a runaway train bit I'm not sure.

In NZ, again from memory of an item in Private Eye, the station and last few miles of track into Auckland were sold off lucratively for redevelopment, with a new station built inevitably a few miles out of the city

The runaway train was at Lac-Megantic in Canada when Ed Burkhardt was CEO of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway. 47 people died: Lac-Mégantic rail disaster - Wikipedia https://share.google/sD1IjiT1E0ZXOng67

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

None of the UK freight operators is financial strong except Freightliner but their backers are intermodal specialists so would they want the diversity of traffic just to pick up a few flows.

 

[Merle Haggard]

The runaway train was at Lac-Megantic in Canada when Ed Burkhardt was CEO of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway. 47 people died: Lac-Mégantic rail disaster - Wikipedia https://share.google/sD1IjiT1E0ZXOng67

Thank you; That was the one I remembered hazily, where Berkhardt turned up - in your link Wikipedia describes him as being 'heckled' - but it was after he had left Wisconsin Central. Although claiming he was sympathetic - not, in my opinion, with any sign of sincerity - when asked questions by the survivors his answers did not seem to show any trace of empathy imo.

 

[sh24]

The UK freight transport sector is creaking too. Lots of haulage firms going pop, and only those with substantial warehousing/fulfilment capability are doing OK.

 

[Solweytracker]

Isn't that what GBrf has been doing for years?

Freight race to the bottom.
DB at the bottom so sell up or go bust.

It is allegedly what GBRf were doing for years, but they are also feeling the heat of poor market conditions and there seems a different approach there. A £218m refinancing package in January 2026, top management changes, cutbacks in staffing and locomotive fleet, not retaining this Drax/Liverpool biomass contract and suggestions in the Rail Freight Flows and News thread that the Clitheroe cement traffic is going to Colas might suggest that profit & loss is now a key driver rather than all out growth.
.
I also wonder how bids for flows such as a retendered Liverpool - Drax costed using brand new class 99s would stack up against say DB Cargo UK's fully depreciated class 66s.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It is allegedly what GBRf were doing for years, but they are also feeling the heat of poor market conditions and there seems a different approach there. A £218m refinancing package in January 2026, top management changes, cutbacks in staffing and locomotive fleet, not retaining this Drax/Liverpool biomass contract and suggestions in the Rail Freight Flows and News thread that the Clitheroe cement traffic is going to Colas might suggest that profit & loss is now a key driver rather than all out growth.
.
I also wonder how bids for flows such as a retendered Liverpool - Drax costed using brand new class 99s would stack up against say DB Cargo UK's fully depreciated class 66s.

Drax traffic itself has an uncertain future.
The plant is already on a standby contract, and it's not obvious wood pellets as fuel have a long-term future.
A lot depends on its carbon capture initiative to reduce emissions.

 

[Error404]

Construction and housebuilding index is sitting at 44. It was 39 in December. Anything above 50 is considered growth.

Any freight traffic work that remains is being fought between DB, GBrf, FL, HHR, Colas, DCR.

With the recent split of FL and HHR this then adds another name to the market as they were previously one company.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out as DB and GBRf have recently had restructuring/ refinancing.

 

[stantheman]

Could masses of DB flows be lost to road ?

 

[Swedenorer]

It was the (obnoxious) Brian Mawhinney, onetime Minister of Transport, who did the deal -

I'd just managed to forget him - and you bring him up again. But there were some shockers in that crew looking back (to basics)

 

[Wavertreelad]

None of the UK freight operators is financial strong except Freightliner but their backers are intermodal specialists so would they want the diversity of traffic just to pick up a few flows.

The UK freight transport sector is creaking too. Lots of haulage firms going pop, and only those with substantial warehousing/fulfilment capability are doing OK.

This is two of the reasons why I would expect a bid from Medlog/Maritime Transport who are backed by the world largest shipping line which incidentally call at Felixstowe, London Gateway Port, Southampton and Liverpool withe direct deep sea services, whilst also feedering to Greenock, Grangemouth, Portbury and Teesport all with their own ships. Maritime Transport Ltd is also the largest road haulage operator in the UK . Medlog is also a major operator in mainland Europe so could also be interested in Channel Tunnel traffic. It's also privately owned by the Aponte family based in Geneva.

https://www.medlog.com/en

With the volumes of containers that MSC move globally and in particular in and our of the UK, there is huge scope for expansion of intermodal rail services for an operator like Medlog especially if was combined with GBRF intermodal volumes.

 

[20atthemagnet]

None of the UK freight operators is financial strong except Freightliner but their backers are intermodal specialists so would they want the diversity of traffic just to pick up a few flows.

As someone working there the answer to that question is 100% no. CMAs focus is purely on being an end one stop logistics company of which Freightliner is now a part of, and also linking their connections with places like Amazon, Tesco, CEVA automotive and logistics storage into Freightliner. They have no interest whatsoever in any of the other things that DB Cargo move, so unless DB was split up into different divisions/assets very unlikely. Heavy Haul was not brought over for the same reason. We are currently waiting to hear back from DB regarding leasing some of their 66s too so perhaps this will push them to release a few temporarily. We are in desperate need of locos at the moment. The new work keeps coming in and loco availability is going down.

 

[Yzerman]

This is two of the reasons why I would expect a bid from Medlog/Maritime Transport who are backed by the world largest shipping line which incidentally call at Felixstowe, London Gateway Port, Southampton and Liverpool withe direct deep sea services, whilst also feedering to Greenock, Grangemouth, Portbury and Teesport all with their own ships. Maritime Transport Ltd is also the largest road haulage operator in the UK . Medlog is also a major operator in mainland Europe so could also be interested in Channel Tunnel traffic. It's also privately owned by the Aponte family based in Geneva.

https://www.medlog.com/en

With the volumes of containers that MSC move globally and in particular in and our of the UK, there is huge scope for expansion of intermodal rail services for an operator like Medlog especially if was combined with GBRF intermodal volumes.

How do you find out all this info genuinely interested

 

[Wavertreelad]

As someone working there the answer to that question is 100% no. CMAs focus is purely on being an end one stop logistics company of which Freightliner is now a part of, and also linking their connections with places like Amazon, Tesco, CEVA automotive and logistics storage into Freightliner. They have no interest whatsoever in any of the other things that DB Cargo move, so unless DB was split up into different divisions/assets very unlikely. Heavy Haul was not brought over for the same reason. We are currently waiting to hear back from DB regarding leasing some of their 66s too so perhaps this will push them to release a few temporarily. We are in desperate need of locos at the moment. The new work keeps coming in and loco availability is going down.

It may all depend if DB finds a single buyer for the entire organisation, and even if they find a buyer it will likely be an investment company who will then split the company up and sell it off at a profit anyway, so it might be that DB decides it's best and most profitable exit would be to split some of the assets up. That's were CMA CGM purchase of FReightliner was different from Medlog's purchase of Maritime Transport Ltd.

I suspect most of Freightliners intermodal work was purely shifting boxes from A to B with little logistics capabiliy, so it slotted in nicelyto CMA CGM existing logistics biz with CEVA etc. Maritime on the other hand had it's own logistics capability as well as being a huge box shifter, so bolted on the MSC container basis very neatly so the only difference is that Freightliner hauls it's own trains whilst MSC subcontracts it rail haulage to GBRF and DB.

Should DB be split up and Medlog secures the intermodal business the assumption would be is that they would eventually move the MSC volumes away from GBRF which would then raise the question whether it would be whether the operation would be viable for the rest of the shipping community. The answer is possibly yes but GBRF is also owned by an asset management company so could be sold off at some point in the future anyway, and should Freightliner or DB Cargo (TBA) in the future decide not to carry third party boxes there would be virtually no competition which could put those shipping companies at a potential huge financial disadvantage. However, both Freightliner and Martime Transport Limited have committed that both companies will continue to maintain open access to other users so it's then all down to whether the other shipping lines want to continue to support a competitor, bearing in mind that in some situations they may have no alternative.

I could see Freightliner and Medlog both bidding for the automotive business, especially given CEVA's existing links to the industry whilst I think Medlog could be interested as they recently purchase a specialist vehicle carrier in the form of Global Car Carriers. Global Car Carriers for which is has launched a major newbuilding program in China for 12 dual-fuel LNG Pure Car Truck worth about US$1billion. I suspect this more to cater for the growing Chinese vehicle market, so rail ideal for moving cars inland whilst you the like of Chinese manufacturers showing signs of establishing them in the UK, I heard rumours of plans for taking space at Nissan's Sunderland plant and JLR's plant at Halewood with a view of serving the EU market.

The steel and petrochemical business if the flows generate international movements, and/or work for the UK transport fleet could be attractive to Medlog. MSC already move a lot of steel products to and from their home port in Antwerp as well Spain and Asia. Petrochemicals again depends on what's involved but if it results in more freight in boxes they could be interested as both steel and drummed chemicals are heavy cargoes which can be handy to stabilise your ship full of empty containers heading back to China or across the Atlantic.

Medlog would also want to retain maintenance facilities and would need some of the fleet and might even be interested in some of the estate if it's in a area of interest, and apart from the Maritime Transport sites scattered around the country they already operate Doncaster Railport. Doncaster Railport. There's the interesting situation at Trafford Park where Maritime Transport lease their main site from DB Cargo UK, but they also use an adjacent site which has just been puchased by Manchester United as part of their plans to build their new ground. At the same time, the club and Freightliner still as far as I know remain in dispute over the cost of Freightliner moving to Intermodal Logistics Park North (formerley Parkside East) near St Helens. It's not clear if United still need the Freightliner site, but the Trafford Park Redevelopment authority will presumably still want it to go ahead as I would think it's in nobody's interest in Freightliner remaining at the present site especially on match days. Which raises the question about who purchased ILPN in 2023 from St Helens council nearly twelve months ahead of MSC purchase of Maritime Transport Ltd and before United announced their plans to build their new ground on the Trafford Park site. Whilst Freightliner admitted they had an interest, given the dispute it seems unlikely they would purchase the alternative site as that might be seen as sending the wrong message to the club. My guess would be MSC purchased the site throught the developer with the knowledge of Freightliner which may also explain when the owner of the ILPN is registered to a company based in the Channel Islands.

The only other solution might be for GBRF to buy entire DB Cargo UK operation and then sell of the bits they don't want, perhaps even selling the intermodal business to Medlog along with rolling stock and maintenance facilities. The latest financial results are not encouraging.

Annual Turnover: £274.4 million for the financial year ending December 31, 2024 (up from £268.7 million the prior year).

Net Profit/Loss: Recorded a loss of £12.3 million in 2024, which was a notable operational improvement from a heavy loss of £67.5 million in 2023.

Given DB purchased the business from EWS in 2007 for £307 million, equivalent to about £556 million today, and the company has not made a profit reecently the eventual purchase price I suspect is not going to break the bank, in fact I suspect that without splitting the business up the owners will find it hard sell it to anybody other than somebody who will at some point.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Annual Turnover: £274.4 million for the financial year ending December 31, 2024 (up from £268.7 million the prior year).

Net Profit/Loss: Recorded a loss of £12.3 million in 2024, which was a notable operational improvement from a heavy loss of £67.5 million in 2023.

Given DB purchased the business from EWS in 2007 for £307 million, equivalent to about £556 million today, and the company has not made a profit reecently the eventual purchase price I suspect is not going to break the bank, in fact I suspect that without splitting the business up the owners will find it hard sell it to anybody other than somebody who will at some point.

DB Cargo (UK) Ltd have fixed assets of £281m primarily locos, wagons and land then they have another £151m in current assets although bulk of that is pension surplus which I doubt any investor will buy out at cost. There are a few other operating subsidiaries (Channel Tnl haulage and maintenance) so maybe an enterprise value of £330m. However, given the prognosis for UK freight market and that fact its run at a loss for many years I can see it being a long drawn out process unless DB AG (German parent) happy for a fire sale to keep EU regulators off their back.

 

[Backroom_boy]

As I've said here before, he thought that there were great opportunities in GB because rail only moved about 5% of all 'freight' tonne-miles, so a seemingly small increase - another 5% - would double the size of the business. He should have asked for the percentage of all tonne-miles that were appropriate for bulk rail freight transport and already moved by rail, and it was a much bigger percentage. Class 66s aren't very good at doorstep milk deliveries

I think Ews managed a great deal with Railtrack via a new commercial director at Railtrack who didn't fully understand the costs of his business; so Ews managed to run heavy trains that made a loss for Railtrack when maintenance was factored in. When Railtrack wised up (one commercial director later) ews found charges from their monopoly supplier much higher than their business model could work with.

 

[Wavertreelad]

How do you find out all this info genuinely interested

I spent of fifty years in the freight industry and have followed the developments of MSC and other shipping lines during this time. MSC is almost unique as it started with one ship in 1970 and has built it's shipping line business almost entirely through organic growth. Today is operates over 1000 vessels around the world and has an order book for new ships equivalent to the size of Hapag Lloyds current fleet which is about the fifth largest in the world.

It's achieved it's early growth by buying elderly ships and having a team of mainly Italian engineers to keep them going.They have since continued this policy as they moved into containers in the 1970's as they increased the number of ships they owned and the number of ports they called at. Typically shipping lines like Maersk or Hapag Lloyd will keep a vessel about fifteen years, before selling it off usually to a specialist organisation that then charters the ship back for a couple of years and/or charters them to open market. A typical shipping line may have 30-50% of it's operating fleet from the charter market but once a vessel gets beyond 20 years old the cost of surveys, maintenance and insurance all rise so most major operators sell their ships to secondary operators for further trading usually in Asia or Middle East. MSC has developed a policy of buying up older ships often from Maersk and deploying around the globe and since Covid they have purchased about 450 ships as well as ordering new ships. At the same time, they have a created a few subsidiary companies that trade "independently" from the main company in specialist areas. Terminal Investments Limited is responsible for purchasing and operating it's terminal interests and is presently believed to be involved in negotiating the purchase of the Hutchinson Ports business outside China and Panama but includes the Port of Felixstowe. Medlog handles it's logistics operations from road, rail and barge haulage to warehousing and even pick and pack operations as well as traditional freight forwarding operations. SAS Agencies is a subsidiary based in Luxembourg that handles it's some of it's ship management, subsidary shipping lines and some overseas agents.

Shipping is a facinating industry once you begin to appreciate how the global system works, especially when you start to take into consideration of politics, the occassional cock up, economics, public opinion, regulation and profitability. It's an industry that never stops, there is always something happening somewhere whether it be a problem or a special shipment that requires careful monitoring and/or handling as well as host of other events. The sale of DB Cargo UK is just another event that will whatever happens change UK distribution and in time will have further knock on effects down the line for the industry and eventually you and I and what we pay in the shops.

 

[Merle Haggard]

I think Ews managed a great deal with Railtrack via a new commercial director at Railtrack who didn't fully understand the costs of his business; so Ews managed to run heavy trains that made a loss for Railtrack when maintenance was factored in. When Railtrack wised up (one commercial director later) ews found charges from their monopoly supplier much higher than their business model could work with.

Not the only one.

The people in Railtrack quoting tolls evidently used a very simple spreadsheet. There were two services, broadly day and night, and they quoted for each with either diesel or electric traction. Using simple simultaneous equations (not even needing a spreadsheet!) showed that they were paying us for using electricity at night. Cl 90 vs Cl47 so not much difference for track wear. The intermediary in the FOC never raised critical queries with Railtrack and eventually achieved his aim by doing so - a job there. Hope it worked out well

But then they were chosen for their sales ability not their numeracy. Nor engineering knowledge either, evidently ...

 

[hwl]

It is allegedly what GBRf were doing for years, but they are also feeling the heat of poor market conditions and there seems a different approach there. A £218m refinancing package in January 2026, top management changes, cutbacks in staffing and locomotive fleet, not retaining this Drax/Liverpool biomass contract and suggestions in the Rail Freight Flows and News thread that the Clitheroe cement traffic is going to Colas might suggest that profit & loss is now a key driver rather than all out growth.
.
I also wonder how bids for flows such as a retendered Liverpool - Drax costed using brand new class 99s would stack up against say DB Cargo UK's fully depreciated class 66s.

Drax traffic itself has an uncertain future.
The plant is already on a standby contract, and it's not obvious wood pellets as fuel have a long-term future.
A lot depends on its carbon capture initiative to reduce emissions.

Drax biomass flow volumes have already fallen more than 30% and will fall a lot more over then next year, hence this isn't the big contract it once was.
Also with lower volumes overall shipping more to the east coast ports might happen as there is less pressure on ship capacity but this would radically reduce rail mileage.
So the value in retaining this for GBRf was a lot lower.

 

[Wavertreelad]

DB Cargo (UK) Ltd have fixed assets of £281m primarily locos, wagons and land then they have another £151m in current assets although bulk of that is pension surplus which I doubt any investor will buy out at cost. There are a few other operating subsidiaries (Channel Tnl haulage and maintenance) so maybe an enterprise value of £330m. However, given the prognosis for UK freight market and that fact its run at a loss for many years I can see it being a long drawn out process unless DB AG (German parent) happy for a fire sale to keep EU regulators off their back.

Thanks for that information, funnily enought that £330m figure is probably not for off a figure I had in mind all things considered.

I'm not sure about the pronosis, in general terms I'd agree the UK freight market is not necessarily in the best place, but it also depends on how individual business are run and whilst I have no experience of DB Cargo UK personally it does seem from some of decisions taken it may not be the best run organisation. That said I suspect the intermodal part of the business could in the right hands be profitable or at least being capable of breaking even especially with a parent that can sustain the volumes and drive up growth. The remaining freight business could find a home with either Heavy Haul or GBRF who might be able make gains through economies of scale, whilst I would also assume that those parties perhaps interested in the remaining assests will have already been aware of sale and will be studying their spreadsheets to see if they can come up with viable offers so I'm tempted to think this could be a relatively quick sale, given the likely small number of players there is likely to be.

I'm also minded by this article European restructuring drives UK sale .

"The decision follows a strategic shift by parent company DB Cargo AG, which is increasingly refocusing on its core Central European operations following the European Commission’s 2024 State Aid ruling.

Although Brussels approved €1.9 billion in German government support, it required DB Cargo to implement a sweeping restructuring programme, end a long-running loss-covering arrangement with Deutsche Bahn and restore long-term profitability by the end of 2026. Against that backdrop, the group is increasingly concentrating investment on its core European business while reviewing operations outside its primary markets."

Given the EU deadline, it would be reasonable to assume that Deutsche Bahn would want the UK subsidiary off the books or at least largely agreed.

 

[20atthemagnet]

I could see Freightliner and Medlog both bidding for the automotive business, especially given CEVA's existing links to the industry whilst I think Medlog could be interested as they recently purchase a specialist vehicle carrier in the form of Global Car Carriers. Global Car Carriers for which is has launched a major newbuilding program in China for 12 dual-fuel LNG Pure Car Truck worth about US$1billion. I suspect this more to cater for the growing Chinese vehicle market, so rail ideal for moving cars inland whilst you the like of Chinese manufacturers showing signs of establishing them in the UK, I heard rumours of plans for taking space at Nissan's Sunderland plant and JLR's plant at Halewood with a view of serving the EU market.

Certainly, if the business was split up, this is very possible. Recently, freightliner started a new contract with CEVA logistics automotive division, transporting Chery division (Jaecoo/Omoda) vehicles in specialist 40 foot containers around the network. This is to get vehicles around to different sites after Ro-Ro. They’ve stated that it’s particularly useful when you need to get vehicles to dealers without needing a dedicated car train as you can use the existing intermodal network. Depending on numbers going forward as you say the car element of DBs operations could be very attractive as the China market is exploding.

 

[450.emu]

This is one of the least surprising things I’ve heard in a while.

The whole operation has had an air of neglect about it for years.

They did the same with Arriva, so not surprising. They are struggling back in their home market

 

[Rivercider]

It started so well.

Mr Ed Berkhardt's Wisconsin Central were chosen to have all the BR Railfteight businesses - apart from Freighliner - after an interview at the British Embassy in New York ... allegedly.
So many promises of expansion by Ed, so much better once all the nationalised-era managers 'managing decline' have gone. The 200 66s were all for extra traffic, all the existing locos would still be needed. Freight traffic tonne-miles would be doubled.

Who would have guessed that it would all turn to this? Hmmm ...

At the time I thought it was quite clear that EWS decided some of the existing loco fleet was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain, and that
a large percentage of the new 66s were to replace older locos, particularly some of the 47s.

EWS took a lot of existing locos, staff, yards, and contracts, no doubt much of which they would rather not have had. While newer companies were able to cherry pick
the bits they wanted.

cheers