French express parcels operator Sernam has switched the bulk of its long-distance traffic from roadto rail in order to avoid being hit by tighter motorway speed limits for light trucks from next
January. It has also bought a small regional trucking company.With effect from January 1, 2007, the maximum speed limit in France for goods vehiclesweighing 3.5 tonnes or more will be reduced from 110 km/h to 90 km/h. This speed limit currentlyapplies to vehicles of 12 tonnes or more. The 18% reduction in speed, along with obligatory resttimes for drivers, means, for example, that the Paris-Niort truck journey will in future take 5hours, 45 minutes on average, compared to 4 hours, 20 minutes at present, Sernam pointed out.
In response to this operational restriction, Sernam said that it has re-designed itsnationwide transportation network in order to ensure it can maintain the present transit times forits customers. The company provides next-day afternoon deliveries across virtually of all France.
With effect from mid-October, Sernam is now carrying the bulk of its long-distance volumes onthe night-time Train Blocs Express (TBE), a freight TGV operating at speeds of up to 200 km/h onkey North-South routes. The operator’s network is based on nine hubs, including new multimodalplatforms at Toulouse and Bordeaux. A new Paris hub will open at Valenton at end-2007.
Meanwhile, Sernam also announced that it has acquired a small trucking company, Coulonge,based at Limoges in south-west France, which had revenues of €4.5 million in 2005.
