IFB starts its new connection Antwerp Combinant – Vienna - Sopron

Antwerp–Cologne–Vienna–Sopron: gateway to Germany, Austria and South-East Europe & Turkey

In collaboration with ICF, IFB starts as of July 5, 2010 a completely new connection with departure from Antwerp (terminal Combinant), towards final destination Sopron Hub (Hungary) with stops in terminal MainHub, Cologne and Vienna and further antennas in Austria. At this moment, IFB operates three connections per week (departure on Monday, Wednesday and Friday) for the Antwerp-Sopron Container Express (ASCE), but it has the intention to increase the frequency to a daily departure as soon as possible.

Departures from Combinant:

- Monday : HLR = 7 pm

- Wednesday: HLR = Tuesday 8.45 pm

- Friday : HLR = Thursday 8.45 pm

Arrivals at Combinant :

- Tuesday : MAD = 3 pm

- Thursday : MAD = 3 pm

- Monday : MAD = 2 pm

The stops in Cologne and Vienna offer the possibility to connect Antwerp to the ICF shuttle trains to Austria and South-East Europe and gives access to the most important commercial centers of Austria and Germany. The departure from Combinant opens the South-European network also to Dutch customers.

Sopron – South-Eastern Europe/Turkey: the South European network

Thanks to a close collaboration with ICF, IFB indeed has access to the ICF Hub in Sopron (Hungary). This hub means an important boost for the whole West-East axe. From the Sopron hub, customers have access to connecting services to Budapest, Sékesfehérvàr and other terminals in Hungary, Bulgaria (Poduyane, Ruse, Stara Zagora), Greece (Thessaloniki, Inoi, Athens), Macedonia (Skopje), Romania (Arad, Oradea, Curtici, Bucharest) and Turkey (Halkali). In cooperation with its local representatives in Vienna, ICF offers regional distribution plus inward and outward feeder services to and from Graz and Villach for intermodal consignments.

Geert Pauwels, CEO IFB and Head of the SNCB Freight Division: “Our experience with the trains to Sopron we have already started from Genk and MainHub are very positive. We notice that there is a real need for rail access to South-East Europe. With ICF we have found a solid partner for safe, reliable and environmental-friendly intermodal transport, with whom we can develop our service offering from the Benelux to a true European network. We offer added value to each other and this permits us to achieve a real win-win partnership. We are looking into the possibilities to evolve from a commercial collaboration to a more general partnership.”

Bart van der Cruysse, Managing Director of Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA: „With IFB, we have a partner with a strong commitment who completes our network optimally. We have developed a successful partnership through the projects we have already launched together; other projects will follow without any doubt. Our common target is to shift more transports from road to rail.”

About IFB Inter Ferry Boats:

Inter Ferry Boats nv/sa is member of the SNCB Logistics and a full (100%) independent subsidiary of NMBS/SNCB. The company is based in Antwerp and has for more than ten years been providing reliable multimodal solutions for transporting containers, chemicals, automotive products, paper and wood and consumer goods at home and abroad by rail, freighter or truck. IFB provides rail transport, but also manages various terminals in Belgium, Germany and France for freight handling. It has amongst others developed the successful National Rail Container Network (Narcon), a daily link via rail, terminal and truck between the quays in Antwerp and Zeebrugge and the hinterland. Rail Force is a division of IFB that provides transport specifically for the chemical and automotive industries. H&S Container Line is also a subsidiary of the IFB Group and a specialist in inland navigation between North Sea ports and the economic centres of the Rhine Area. More information on www.interferryboats.be – www.railforce.be - www.sncblogistics.be

About ICF Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA:

ICF Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA, established in 1967, focuses on unaccompanied rail/road transport services by using their own shuttles, block trains and hubs. Core markets are the corridors “Western Europe – South East Europe/Turkey”, “Western Europe – Switzerland” and “Western Europe – CIS”. Main customers are logistics companies, freight forwarders, shipping lines and shipping agencies. ICF also provides services for Supply Chain projects on an increasing basis. With its Head Office in Basel, Switzerland, ICF operates 13 representative offices at the most important interfaces of the European intermodal network and is shareholder of ten specialised intermodal operators. ICF is operating approx. 2’000 container cars for the 150 shuttle and block trains which travel every week throughout Europe, mainly in long haul traffic.

More information on www.icfonline.com

For all complementary information:

IFB sa – Veerle Van Mierlo – Tel. 00 32 472 92 02 29 – veerle.van.mierlo@interferryboats.be - Houtdok 25A - B-2030 Antwerp

ICF Media Agency, Urs D. Müller, Tel. +41 61 206 90 05, Cellphone +41 79 435 70 40, intercontainer@commpact.ch