German railway operator invests in cars for ArcelorMittal

DB Cargo, the freight train subsidiary of German railway operator Deutsche Bahn, will handle all material transport for ArcelorMittal Eisenhüttenstadt’s blast furnaces for the next ten years. The two companies have just signed a contract to that effect, Kallanish has learned.

DB Cargo highlights it will invest in dedicated logistics for the cooperation, covering the transport of ore, coke and limestone. It will procure 352 multifunctional double wagons with a total of 1,408 special containers until summer next year. Logistics provider Innofreight has designed them especially for the transport of these raw materials and optimised their loading volume, DB Cargo says.

“By using special container types optimised for the different properties of ore, coke and limestone, we can increase the net load per train by around 20%, which means we need significantly fewer trains,” says Sybille Klipstein, lead buyer rail at ArcelorMittal.

The partner company will also build two partially automated unloading facilities at the Eisenhüttenstadt plant, and will operate them itself. In total, up to 4.2 million tonnes/year of raw materials can then be transported, according to DB Cargo.