14/04/2008
Wine train is a corker

JF Hillebrand (Hillebrand), the UK’s largest importer of wine into the UK, has launched a dedicated rail freight service between the Port of Tilbury and Daventry (DIRFT), with the help of Maritime Transport.

The service has been developed to improve import deliveries of Australian, New Zealand and South African wines to the Midlands and lower carbon emissions.

The "Wine Train" carries around 24 containers of either bottled or bulk wine using a flexi-tank, which can hold around 24,000 litres of wine. In total, the service will move around 2 million bottles of wine a week.

Based at Hillebrand’s Thurrock Head Office, Maritime handles the management of the intermodal service using Freightliner locomotives and liveried vehicles from its road fleet, planning the train and the local deliveries by road.