New train terminal in Ghent at centre of Volvo Cars’ global supply chain

From Gothenburg to Ghent and from Ghent to Italy, Austria and even China. The Volvo Cars supply chain, from factory to user, covers sea, rail and sometimes road. A new train terminal in the port of Ghent - a collaboration between Volvo Cars, Lineas and DFDS Seaways – forms its central hub. Annually, it takes 5,000 trucks off Flemish roads.

DFDS Seasways takes care of the transport by sea. In the V6 terminal at the Mercatordok in North Sea Port Ghent, most of the products are loaded onto Lineas’ freight trains. The rail freight operator takes care of the first and last mile, as well as long haul to the European Hinterland and the Far East. Where necessary in cooperation with other operators. Some deliveries in the direct vicinity of Ghent are covered by road.

Martin Corner, Supply Chain Logistics at Volvo Cars: "We are committed to a multimodal approach, keeping costs, CO2 emissions and the number of transport movements as low as possible, while ensuring integration with the rest of Volvo Cars' logistics network, including our factories and ports. Thanks to the collaboration with DFDS and Lineas, we are achieving an ideal multimodal flow."

The new terminal brings water, rail and road together and makes the Volvo Cars logistics chain faster, more sustainable and cost-efficient. The turnaround time from factory to final destination is therefore unprecedented. In addition, rail is a reliable transport solution that emits 9 times less CO2 and 8 times less air pollution than road transport. 

"We have been a proud partner of Volvo for more than 20 years," says Lars Redeligx, CCO at Lineas. "Together we shift thousands of truck loads from road to rail every year. Thanks to this new terminal, we keep another 5.000 trucks off the road annually. This project and the nomination for ‘Baanbrekers’ proves once again how integrating rail into multimodal logistics solutions can significantly improve a company's supply chain and have a positive impact on climate and mobility."

Morgan Olausson, Vice President, BU North Sea North also expressed his pride in the partnership. "It's impressive to see how, through collaboration between industry, short sea and rail, we can transport a huge volume of cars so sustainably, efficiently and quickly.”

Baanbrekers 2020
The project hasn’t gone by unnoticed. On Monday 23 November, ‘Multimodaal Vlaanderen’, the advisory centre for multimodal transport, awarded the V6 terminal the title 'Baanbreker 2020'.

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