Mercitalia Logistics Teams up with Amazon to shift goods from road to rail
Logistics continues to work to achieve greater efficiencies and reducing carbon emissions by leveraging railways. Mercitalia Logistics, leader of the FS Italiane Group’s Logistics Business Unit, and Amazon have signed an agreement to transport goods between Amazon fulfillment centers in Germany and Italy.
This new agreement is aimed at reducing international freight traffic, reducing both tail-pipe carbon emissions and congestion on key European roadways. The project will also help Amazon optimize inventory handling, reduce delivery times, and thus improve customer experience.
FS Group’s schedule includes three trains per week from Duisburg to Pomezia, operated by Mercitalia Intermodal, and six round trips between Herne and Verona, operated by TX Logistik. According to FS Group’s assessment, these routes, working at full capacity, could help avoid up to 9,000 tons of carbon emissions from international road freight traffic per year.
“This agreement with Amazon witnesses the commitment of Mercitalia Logistics to work with companies enabling more sustainable transportation options. These railway links to and from Germany fit with our strategic plan in line with the European Rail Freight sector’s goal of achieving 30% in rail modal by 2030,” remarked Sabrina De Filippis, CEO of Mercitalia Logistics. “We are constantly working to adopt advanced technologies, such as the Digital Automatic Coupling of the freight cars or the digitalization of warehouses, that helps reduce the emissions associated with logistics operations, while still ensuring high quality service. In 2022, thanks to our integrated sustainable logistics model, we were able to avoid about 1.8 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by across our business”.
“Given the particular geographical conformity of its territory, Italy is one of the countries that can benefit most from the growth of intermodal rail”, commented Lorenzo Barbo, Managing Director of Amazon Logistics in Italy. “We are happy to work with FS Group’s Mercitalia Logistics to continue expanding the use of rail to transport inventory between our European buildings, bringing products closer to where customers live. The agreement signed in 2021 between Amazon and Mercitalia Logistics was a first and important step that helped improve delivery times and reduce our transportation-related emissions”, concluded Lorenzo Barbo.
The Duisburg-Pomezia and Herne-Verona routes represent a strategic link for FS Group, connecting two of Germany’s most important logistics hubs with Northern and Central Italy.