Fresh from a 2023 in which intermodal shipments handled from the company recorded a sharp decline of -15.9% ( of 23 February 2024), which is the sharpest decline from the -16.3% recorded in 2009, coinciding with the impact of the on the activities of the global economic and financial crisis, the Germany's Kombiverkehr is alarmed by future prospects especially in view of what he considers to be a lack of support from the Federal Government in Berlin for the intermodal transport and the executive's disengagement from the its own objectives of reducing the impact of transport on the climate.

Today, on the occasion of the presentation of the results achieved in 2023 at the shareholders' meeting, the CEO of Kombiverkehr, Armin Riedl, pointed out that "the constant train path prices, the suspension of the support for train paths and the government's refusal to pay for the additional costs associated with the upgrading of corridors high-speed rail systems are detrimental to the objectives of modal shift'. "The challenges for operators and freight forwarding customers, Riedl said, were and continue to be be multiple and varied. For this reason, we are unable to understand why, at this very moment, it is being reduced the subsidy to the price of train paths. That's how they'll go Lost the efficiency gains resulting from the from directing funding towards a significant increase in the market share of rail transport in order to achieve CO2 reductions in the future."

Analyzing the most recent business performance Riedl announced that in April and May Kombiverkehr has seen an increase in volumes transported on Some guidelines compared to last year: "We are taking note of the again, he explained, the first signs of an improvement in the demand and, thanks to a comprehensive rail offer, a overall stabilisation of transport volumes. However - it has Specified - The transport sector suffers from a shortage of orders by industry. However, there are some tentative signs that the German economy may now be at a turning point. We are therefore cautiously optimistic for the immediate future.

However, the future outlook is weighed down by a policy of government that Kombiverkehr considers to be penalizing for the transport of rail freight. The company's general manager, Heiko Krebs, stressed that two measures, in particular, will lead to a doubling of the cost of using railway lines for the transport of goods: the increase of more than +16% in the prices of paths in 2025 and the lack of support to cover additional Costs caused by the works on the railway corridors of the velocity. 'The fact that only passenger transport receive financial support to cover the additional costs resulting from the modernisation of high-speed corridors while freight transport remains completely empty-handed - ha Krebs - is a further indication of the fact that whereas the German Government has probably turned its back on the climate protection in the transport sector'.

Regarding the estimated cost increase for next year, Krebs said specified that Kombiverkehr provides, in particular, for a significant growth in expenditure for the purchase of services provided from one of the company's main suppliers: "We are therefore forced - he announced - to look for alternatives, which in line with principle can be successful, but they are difficult to achieve in a very short period of time." "If we don't succeed - warned Krebs - in the worst-case scenario, we will stop the Transport. We have discussed this several times," he said, "with the Federal Minister and his office. We asked for support for a transitional period. Unfortunately, so far all efforts have been made been in vain. The Federal Government's Modal Shift Goal It is therefore moving further away."