Today the Swiss Federal Competition Commission (WEKO) gave the go-ahead for the operating company. The three partners SBB Cargo, Hupac and Contargo welcome the positive decision by WEKO. It clarifies the situation and is one of the decisive prerequisites for realisation.

Gateway Basel Nord AG is to establish a transhipment platform for all market participants. The operating company gladly accepts the conditions of the Swiss Federal Transport Office regarding non-discrimination, to which WEKO also refers, and will operate the Gateway according to these conditions.

Gateway Basel Nord supports the efficient access of Switzerland to international container logistics, and enables a significant step forward to be taken in the policy of transferring road freight onto other transport modes. Gateway Basel Nord will make an important contribution to protecting people and nature from the impacts of international heavy-duty transportation.

The next milestone on the way to realisation of Gateway Basel Nord is construction permission; this is expected to be settled in the course of the next few months. Provided that building permission becomes legally effective within the present year, Gateway Basel Nord expects commissioning to take place in 2021.

Five reasons for Gateway Basel Nord

Trimodal Terminal: Basel Nord is the appropriate location for an effective linking of all three transport modes: rail, Rhine and road. It is ideally situated on the north-south transport axis.

Urgently-needed securing of capacity: The handling capacities available at present are not sufficient to cope with the increasing volumes of container transports. Some existing facilities will even be ceasing to operate. Already in 2019 there are signs of capacity bottlenecks in container handling in the Swiss Rhine ports.

Support for the location from the logistics sector: In 2013 the Swiss logistics industry spoke out in favour of realising a large-scale trimodal terminal at the Basel North location.

Competitive logistics chains: Gateway Basel Nord will enable the transport modes of truck, train and barge to operate at lower cost. By bundling quantities and implementing fast throughput times, the costs per consignment can be substantially reduced.

Rational empty container logistics: To move empty containers at low cost, Gateway Basel Nord offers several connections daily to all regions of Switzerland. It is also situated directly both on the Rhine and on rail routes, which is convenient for repositioning empty containers along the Rhine and in the seaports.

Gateway Basel Nord AG
The three Swiss logistics and transport enterprises Contargo AG, SBB Cargo AG and Hupac AG founded Gateway Basel Nord AG in June 2015. The company, with its headquarters in Basel, is planning and realising the road-rail-water transhipment terminal for import and export in Basel North.