New Aiud terminal strengthens DP World’s European trimodal network, linking Romania to key markets via Constanta port and rail corridors to Asia.

DP World continues to expand its comprehensive trimodal network across Europe, ensuring efficient and sustainable transport between major economic centres and seaports. The latest enhancement to this network is the inland terminal in Aiud, Romania, meeting the demands of a rapidly developing region with strategic connectivity.

With the addition of Aiud, DP World now serves customers in Europe from 14 inland terminals across Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Serbia, and Romania.

“Our trimodal terminals facilitate over 60 barge and 100+ rail connections weekly, always providing customers with a tailored transport solution—be it rail, barge, or direct trucking,” says Jens Langer, Vice President Inland – Germany, Netherlands, Belgium & Bulgaria at DP World. “Every transportation need is carefully balanced to optimize speed, cost-efficiency, and environmental impact, delivering the ideal option for any requirement.”

Within the trimodal network, DP World can take full control of the customer’s logistics chain and handle everything from customs clearance to final delivery. Each terminal offers a wide range of value-added services, including depot services, refrigerated container handling, dangerous goods storage, weighing, stuffing and stripping, first- and last-mile transport, and more.

Langer adds, “With our wide range of options and resilient alternatives, we ensure worry-free transport solutions. We really do that for all types of goods, with automotive, chemicals, and food being prime cargo flows. A separate, rapidly growing specialism is the transport and storage of pharmaceutical equipment and medicines, for which, for example, our trimodal inland terminal DP World Germersheim was recently certified according to the Good Distribution Practice.”

Strategic expansion eastward

The latest addition to DP World’s trimodal network, the Aiud intermodal terminal, enhances trade connections between Romania and Europe’s key markets. Aiud is linked by rail to the port of Constanta and also provides direct access to rail corridors heading to Asia, particularly China. Located in Romania’s industrial heartland, the intermodal terminal positions the country as a key commercial hub for eastward trade routes.

From factory floor to customer door

The current European trimodal network is an integral part of DP World’s global end-to-end logistics philosophy. DP World’s mission is to reimagine global supply chains, making trade flows smarter, faster, and more sustainable. Customers can rely on the comprehensive integration of logistics from the factory floor to the customer door. “Through our inland network, we specifically manage the routes between European seaports and final destinations on the continent and vice versa,” explains Langer.

Trimodality for more sustainability

With its wide range of weekly European rail and barge connections, DP World actively promotes sustainability. Langer notes, “With this, we respond to rising social and consumer expectations and increasingly stringent environmental regulations from governments.” DP World is also exploring different ways to decarbonise road transport when it is the most practical solution, deploying e-trucks and using alternative low-carbon fuels such as hydrogen.

“Since summer 2024, one of the world’s first Mercedes-Benz hydrogen trucks has been trialled at our trimodal inland terminal in Germersheim for container pre- and onward carriage to customers in southern Germany and neighbouring countries,” Langer adds.

All these initiatives seamlessly align with DP World’s overarching goal to reduce Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 42% (approximately 700,000 tonnes) by 2030, based on 2022 levels. In the longer term, DP World aims to be a carbon-neutral business by 2040 and has a clear roadmap to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 across its entire global network.

Customer-first approach

“DP World will continue to expand its trimodal reach to meet the needs of customers,” Langer concludes. “Through our extensive European trimodal network, shipping lines, forwarders, and shippers are assured of a robust, reliable supply chain with an ever-decreasing carbon footprint, now and in the future.”