Discount supermarket giant Lidl has announced its entry into land transport logistics by creating a new subsidiary, Tailwind Intermodal. The company will coordinate the transport of its own and third-party containers by rail and road.
The famous supermarket chain founded Tailwind Shipping Lines in April 2022 to directly manage the import of its own goods from China. Until then, it has been dependent on other shipping lines. It currently owns six vessels, the largest of which has a capacity of 6,078 TEU.
Its main route is the Panda Express, which links several ports in China and Sri Lanka with the Slovenian port of Koper, stopping in Barcelona.
As a sister company of Tailwind Shipping Lines, Tailwind Intermodal will organise and coordinate the inland transport of goods arriving at the Slovenian seaport of Koper. “Koper is the most strategically important port for Tailwind. Its ships bring goods on the Panda Express liner service from China. Tailwind Intermodal is responsible for the onward transport to the hinterland and the return of empty containers to Koper for loading on the Panda Express to China,” RailFreight.com quoted Lidl as saying.
Lidl confirmed to RailFreight.com that Tailwind Intermodal will start operations this summer. It will commission several partners to transport the goods with up to five daily rail connections between Koper and the multimodal freight centre in Graz, Austria. The goods will be palletised in a warehouse located directly at the centre.
