German project cargo and heavy-lift liner operator Rickmers-Linie is to begin making regular monthly calls at the Port of Bilbao in northern Spain.
Rickmers-Linie has already made several calls to the port recently, mostly on an inducement basis. The decision to regularise scheduled calls into Bilbao has been prompted by a major contract to ship high-speed trains built by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) from Bilbao to Dammam in Saudi Arabia. The contact was signed with the global forwarder Geodis, which is responsible for the overall logistics management of this project
It is anticipated that the regular monthly calls in Bilbao will be provided through the upgrading of Rickmers-Linie's Europe-Middle East/India service although the company's eastbound Round-the-World Pearl String service will continue to make calls on inducement. The Pearl String's 'Rickmers Hamburg' called Bilbao in early October to lift a six-car high-speed train set comprising a power car weighing 95 tonnes and four carriages and a driving trailer weighing just under 60 tonnes each.
