Eugène Vanfleteren, CEO CMA CGM Belgium
CMA GCM, the third largest container shipping company in the world and specialist in container shipping transports yearly 9 million containers on shipping routes all over the world. With almost 400 vessels the shipping company serves 400 ports in 150 countries.
In Belgium, CMA CGM is, for evident reasons, mainly active in Zeebrugge and Antwerp, as they are Belgium’s largest world ports. It is no coincidence that these are also the two ports from which Inter Ferry Boats (IFB), member of BCargo Group, specialist in intermodal rail transport and terminal manager organizes a large number of rail connections.
Everybody has had a product in hands that was transported by CMA CGM. The transported containers leave Belgium or arrive from all over the world in Belgium and contain amongst others consumer products for the main retail chains, foodstuff, industrial commodities and waste materials.
Eugène Vanfleteren, CEO CMA CGM Belgium: “The shipping company has chosen for a long-term partnership with IFB because of an important asset: the combination of rail transport with terminal capacity on strategic places in the ports. We can rely on IFB to develop new solutions for logistic challenges we are confronted with on a daily base. CMA CGM is pursuing a growth strategy that is based among other things on the development of intermodal transport and IFB provides proven added value to that objective.”
Rail transport For CMA CGM, IFB serves as consolidator for a higher quality and frequency of the rail transports between the ports and a better service level towards the customers. The important volumes, those of CMA CGM, in combination with those of other IFB-customers that use the same connections, permit very regular rail connections between the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge and the different terminals in the port of Antwerp. Every year, IFB transports for CMA CGM more then 120.000 TEU via rail between Antwerp and Zeebrugge.
Rail terminals Concerning the rail terminals IFB has a presence in the vital areas in the port of Antwerp. These have an important spear function CMA CGM. The terminals that CMA CGM uses most frequently are Main Hub and ATO. Thanks to the close partnership, both companies consult regularly together for the development of the existing or new rail terminals, so that the collaboration results in a real win-win situation.
Eugène Vanfleteren: “IFB is for us an important link in the whole transport chain that we offer. The combined offering of rail transport with terminal capacity is a big asset for us. Moreover, IFB assures that all systems are integrated and compatible with our own systems. We also appreciate the knowhow of the staff and the fact that the company thinks along with its customers. That is a partnership in the real sense of the word.”
