July 20 - Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) has been awarded a contract to ship a series of railcars from Spain to Chile for the expansion of the Santiago metro network.
During 2016 and 2017, a total of 185 wagons will be delivered from Spain to Chile for the metro extension project. WWL has already moved 35 of the railcars, with units loaded in both Zeebrugge and Santander.
"We hope to carry at least half of the total on WWL vessels," said Ramón Oliete, managing director of WWL's Iberia Ocean branch, based in Barcelona.
WWL uses roll trailers to load the railcars onto its ro-ro vessels and unload the units at the Chilean discharge port, where the cargoes will be collected for onward transport by road to Santiago.
"By shipping the wagons ro-ro, everything runs smoothly without any problems, because we are not touching the wagons," claims Oliete. "We have the appropriate equipment and the appropriate vessel for cargo of this sort, which has no packing and nothing to protect it."
Oliete stressed that moving railcars by ro-ro ship avoids using any cranes, meaning that the risk of damage is minimised.
