A P Moller – Maersk has reached an agreement with BGRf, the third largest rail freight operator in the United Kingdom, to operate a rail service from Felixstowe to Newell & Wright in Tinsley, Sheffield all working days in the week.

“As any other major container gateway in the world, Felixstowe has been under pressure due to the various disruptions affecting the supply chain such as Brexit, COVID-19 and the recent vessel blockage at the Suez Canal,” explained Jeremy Haycock, Managing Director for United Kingdom & Ireland at Maersk. “By signing this agreement, we will be able to offer more reliable and flexible end-to-end services to both local as well as global importers and exporters.”

The Port of Felixstowe is Britain's biggest and busiest container port, and one of the largest in Europe. Approximately 50% of traffic between Felixstowe and the North of England moves by rail.

“Expanding our rail footprint from Felixstowe is key for us to increase supply chain flexibility for our customers through the current challenging times and help them addressing their individual specific logistics needs as the business condition and pandemic continue to evolve,” Jeremy added. “We want to help bringing capacity and reliability to this critical supply chain link.”

This new service will incorporate new eco-fret wagons from the German company VTG Aktiengesellschaft, state-of-art containers which maximize the number of 20- and 40-foot containers which can be carried on a train, providing customers an eco-friendlier alternative to traditional wagons.

“I am delighted we have agreed this contract with Maersk,” said John Smith, Managing Director at GB Railfreight. “We are a growing organisation, always looking for the next opportunity and working with Maersk was an absolute no-brainer. We hope this is the beginning of a great relationship.”