The Barcelona-Tarragona logistics hub is the third most important in the European Union due to the density of freight traffic, only behind the Ruhr basin, in Germany, and the region around Milan. It is one of the most relevant conclusions of the study carried out by the European association Ferrmed, which recommends that the EU concentrate the investments planned in its European Green Deal in these main logistics hubs and in the approximately 18,000 kilometers where 65% of the Union freight traffic.
In Spain, only the Mediterranean corridor (plus the connection to Zaragoza) and the Irun-Madrid axis would form part of those 18,000 priority kilometres, considered the backbone of intermodal transport in the EU.
The study, in which nearly 25 experts from all over Europe have participated and which will be presented publicly in Brussels on November 15, "identifies the areas with the highest traffic in the EU and proposes a series of solutions to integrate road traffic- railway and ensure that truck trailers for long distances (more than 300 km) can be transported by train in a flexible, fast and efficient way to save costs and reduce polluting gas emissions", explains Joan Amorós, president of Ferrmed and report coordinator.
The work has been proposed as an x-ray of the current situation of the sector and a search for proposals to meet the objectives of the EU white paper, which aim to ensure that in 2030 30% of long-distance transport is carried out by rail. or waterway.
In one of its most relevant parts, which Professor Lanfranco Senn of the Bocconi University of Milan has commissioned, the study points to the Barcelona-Tarragona logistics hub as the third most important in the EU. It refers to freight traffic by road, rail or waterway that goes beyond 300 km, thus excluding proximity movements. To establish the ranking, both the traffic density and its gross added value and the population of each area have been taken into account. In the case of the Catalan hub, explains Amorós, “it is the traffic density that has weighed the most, because in terms of added value of goods we are below other hubs”. The fact that proximity movements are excluded also explains why the Barcelona-Tarragona axis is ahead of Antwerp-Brussels, for example.
The study, which attempts to find solutions to the inefficiencies of the current system, assumes that only 18.7% of freight transport in the EU is carried out by rail, compared to 75.4% by road and 6% by waterways (data from 2018, although without taking into account the United Kingdom). In the last 15 years, on the other hand, the use of the railway has practically not increased (17.9% in 2015). However, around 55% of road transport covers long distances, so rail would be a good alternative. And no less important, road transport contributes to the congestion of these routes and has a clear impact on the environment: some 275 million tons of CO2 per year, around 30% of the total emissions of the sector.
For all these reasons, Ferrmed's analysis is that it is not about rail and road competing with each other, but rather that the railway is now considered a good complement to road transport. In this sense, they point out that in general the road is the best means for short distances and for the first and last mile. The railway, for its part, should be at the service of road transport as a complement to long-distance trips. To do this, Ferrmed points out flexible formulas that allow easy loading from a truck to a train and vice versa.
