Port accessThis service enables the creation of a logistics bridge between Pancorbo hinterland and the Port
Today, the Pancorbo rail-port logistics terminal (TELOF) received the first container train that will link it on a regular basis with the Port of Bilbao. Thus, the intermodal operations in this dry port in Burgos have commenced, which will suppose the setting up of a logistics bridge between Bilbao and the importers and exporters from the Pancorbo hinterland – Castile and Leon and La Rioja among others.
The Pancorbo Dry Port belongs to the Port Authority of Bilbao, but its business model is outsourced to Transitia, the first and only Basque company with a railway licence and safety certificate to operate on the general interest rail network. The firm Sibport has been granted the management of the rail service.
In addition to Transitia and Sibport, other companies, such as Railsider and MacAndrews, have shown their interest in using and participating in this terminal and also the main companies already set up in Pancorbo.
At the start, the service will be weekly, and the train will make the return trip between Bilbao-Pancorbo-Jundiz.
A strategic dry port
The Port of Bilbao strategic development sets out the creation of dry ports in order to attract more traffic by bringing maritime services nearer to its clients. Bearing this in mind, in 2011, the Port Authority of Bilbao acquired 480,000 square metres of land in the El Prado Industrial Estate in Pancorbo, Burgos for the development of its rail-port logistics terminal (TELOF) and of logistics and industrial areas.
The industrial estate is strategically located between the national N-1 road and the Vitoria-Burgos-Madrid toll motorway AP-1, adjacent to Pancorbo Station on the Madrid-Irun line. In this way, handlers in the area are brought closer to the Bilbao maritime services that connect with almost 900 ports worldwide.
The works on the rail connection and service lines commenced in September 2013 and were completed in March 2015. The Port Authority invested 13.8 million euros on the connection works, and the project also received European aid as part of the IBUK – Intermodal Corridor Project.
The terminal has two shunting tracks for operations up to 616 metres, two maximum 755-metre long train reception-despatch tracks and two 656-metre long loading and discharge tracks. The track gauge is Iberian, although it can change to international standard. It is equipped with the most modern cutting edge technology, has a container depot and in March next year, will have a closed 500-square metre closed warehouse.
In the first phase, which was completed in January 2017 at a cost of 4.5 million euros, some 60,000 square metres were developed. The remaining terminal surface will be developed in stages, flexibly in accordance with the needs and cargo types of those customers wishing to set up in this logistics zone.
The estate has three zones: the rail logistics terminal itself with a goods loading and discharge area, the logistics area for container and general cargo and the logistics-industrial area.
