UIC welcomed the opportunity to share the results of the 2020 Report on Combined Transport at the 63rd session of the Working Party on Intermodal Transport and Logistics held from 28 to 30 October.

The Working Party has, since 1951, provided a forum for exchange of technical, legal and policy information, as well as best practices in combined and intermodal transport at pan-European level. Its work prepares the ground for policy advice and for the negotiation and administration of multilateral legal instruments.

The objective is to promote combined and intermodal transport in the 56 UNECE member countries and to ensure maximum utilisation of equipment, infrastructure and terminals for such transport. This is line with the objective of the UIC Combined Transport Group (representing 80 per cent of CT railways in Europe) which, for years, has worked to make combined transport a user-friendly solution for the market through technical standardisation and by means of close market monitoring with its unique and now renowned report, published every other year since the early 2000s.

Constanze Bannholzer, Senior Freight Advisor at UIC, discussed the findings from the eighth bi-annual report, which provides a comprehensive overview of the current situation with regard to combined transport in Europe. The report compiles up-to-date information on rail/road combined transport volumes for 2019 for all market segments, and gathers market participants’ assessment of market structures and future developments.

The report was prepared in collaboration with the International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport (UIRR). It will be published in the first half of November 2020.