Dear Customers,
We bring you news on the current situation as well as more details on the restrictions within Germany that we have recently announced.
The situation after this extraordinary closure is stabilising very slowly. There is a lack of additional free slots for the accumulated imports at the affected terminals. Although the terminals are now handling the contractually agreed and ordered slots with a small delay in units of hours, only Burchardkai is more than 15 hours late, no additional capacity is available now. The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) requires permits for trains to arrive, though our exports are currently running on schedule.
We estimate that, given that there are no further emergencies, the situation may return to normal in about a week, maybe 10 days. Depending on the current circumstances.
We will do our utmost to catch up as quickly as possible with the delays from the two full-day closures by the HPA in August, that affect the Eurogate and Burchardkai terminals. However, the accumulated amounts will require around a week, sometimes even 10 days to come to balance. Since there are no alternative routes in this case, we, unfortunately, have no other option but to rely on all our trains scheduled for border times to be cleared as planned. As the first 24-hour closure 02.08.-03.08.2025 is immediately followed by the Berlin-Hamburg closure 04.08.2025 (see below), it will not be easy to get extra routes. However, we are not relenting in our negotiations with the terminals and DB InfraGO.
Due to the increasing number of questions regarding this major shutdown, we would like to provide you with more details about the planned solutions.
The good news is that our trains have received assigned diversion routes and will continue to run. While the situation will require some operational flexibility, our goal is to continue to provide reliable service for you.
There are several alternative routes available, which we will use depending on the current availability and the decision of the operational management of DB InfraGO. The shortest detour route via Salzwedel and Uelzen will be largely used by passenger traffic (including ICE), which significantly limits the capacity for freight trains. A small number of our trains will use this route, but the majority will be diverted:
- via Hannover
- the northern route around Rostock
- or other available detours depending on the situation.
The routes may therefore vary from train to train and their exact routing will also depend on the operational management of DB InfraGO.
We have arranged alternatives and the trains will run, albeit along different routes. We will monitor the situation closely and in case of significant changes we will keep you informed.
Our customer service team will be available at all times to answer any questions you may have.
We believe that we will successfully overcome these challenges together.
METRANS Team
