Maritime Inland Services

Köln. From 1 January 2023, the terminal Cologne North (TKN) of HGK Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG will be operated by a new company, the Hupac Group. This is the result of the tender initiated by HGK in June 2022, in which Hupac SA was awarded the contract in November 2022.

"We are very pleased that the Hupac Group, a renowned company, has won the tender to operate the terminal. For HGK, the Terminal Köln Nord plays a strategically important role with regard to our innovative FU-SION COLOGNE industrial and logistics site, which is being developed in the immediate vicinity," explains Uwe Wedig, CEO of the HGK Group.

The Hupac Group operates numerous terminals in Europe, either under its own management or together with partners, and brings a broad range of experience in this field. "Terminals are a strategic resource for the modal shift and are of outstanding importance, especially in agglomerations such as the Rhine/Ruhr area," says Hupac CEO Michail Stahlhut. "We invest in resources and in intelligent systems to bring out maximum performance at the interface between road and rail."

The bi-modal Terminal Köln Nord is conveniently located near the motorway junction Köln Niehl (A1/A57) and is directly connected to the Rhine port Köln Niehl via rail. It has an area of 152,000 square metres with five transhipment tracks and three gantry cranes. Up to ten trains can be loaded and unloaded inbound and outbound per day. "We are looking forward to the new task, which we will master together with the experienced terminal team," says Sascha Altenau, managing director of the Hupac subsidiary Combiconnect Köln Nord GmbH. "Already today we welcome all existing and new customers of the terminal."

The invitation to tender for combined transport operation is required by the directive on the support of intermodal terminals of non-federally owned companies. Before the transition is completed on 1 January 2023, all organisational and administrative processes will be coordinated with customers and partners. The transfer of lease and operations results in a transfer of employment for the existing workforce in accordance with § 613 a BGB. The existing employment relationships will be taken over by the future Combiconnect Köln Nord GmbH with legal security.