Swiss fresh produce exporters will be hard pushed to take advantage of the Gotthard Base Tunnel’'s current form and have a long wait before potential future developments transform it into a logistics network fit for a catalogue of fresh produce. This is the view of Swiss fruit and vegetable association (SWISSCOFEL) director Marc-Andre Wermelinger, who spoke with www.freshfruitportal.com yesterday. 

June 1 saw a lavish opening ceremony of the GBT, the world's longest and deepest tunnel, amid claims the 35.3 mile-long transport link that forms part of the AlpTransit Project could be a logistical game-changer for the export trade.

It also forms part of the Rhine-Alpine Core Network Corridor, a series of railways to better connect Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

However, Swisscofel director Marc-Andre Wermelinger says more needs to be done to really take lorries off the roads and put more fruit and vegetables on the train, with the only real potential being for bananas.

"“At the moment the tunnel is on a test phase until December so we couldn’'t try it out yet anyway.  Almost all fresh produce is transported on trucks with climate controlled reefer trucks, so I don’'t see at the moment the possibility that the trucks will be loaded on the trains in a big volume,”" he says.

"The new tunnel is open but the tunnels from Italy to Switzerland are not big enough to transport the trucks through them, they are not high enough.

"“The Italians have to make ready their own tunnels between Genoa and the Swiss border first before one could load lorries on the railways. "

Besides bananas, which are often transported in special climate controlled railway wagons, the Swiss fruit and vegetable sectors will have to wait longer to utilize the benefits of GBT.

"“I’'m not a prophet but I don’'t think it will mainly, for now, be fresh produce that will be transported on the train instead of road transport, but more the industrialized goods first that are transported in containers or palletized in special rail wagons.

"“Maybe one exception will be bananas because they are already often transported in special cooled railway wagons. But besides bananas, I don’'t see how until these tunnels in Italy will be replaced or made to fit the trucks on railway wagons because they are not high enough at the moment.

"“It is the promise of the Italian railway companies to indeed to this, they state they want to do it by 2020. The traffic minister of Italy was saying that he'’s looking into it and wants to make the tunnels on the Italian side ready for these combined transports.”"

The GBT bypasses the winding mountain route of Gotthardbahn which is now operating at full capacity and provides an alternative direct route for high-speed rail. It has taken 17 years to construct, cost more than €12 billion (US$13.4 billion) and goes 2.3km (1.4 miles) underground.

Once clear of the Swiss Alps, the long-term idea is to provide better connections between Switzerland and other parts of Europe, whilst reducing Carbon dioxide emissions caused by heavy freight traffic of the road network throughout Europe.

Another challenge of the route across Europe is on the German side between Basel and Karlsruhe.

“"They are planning to make more tracks between Karlsruhe and Basel, but there is a lot of opposition from the people who live in that area. This could easily take until 2029, according to the German government.

“ "This also is a point which makes it a bit difficult to say how fast the replacement from the road traffic to rail traffic will really function. Without capacity in Germany and Italy, it nice to have this tunnel, but on the transport of goods, especially fresh produce and putting trucks on the railway, this will take some time.

“"All industrial goods transported in common rail wagons will profit from this tunnel from the first day. Whilst on the fresh produce side, we will have to wait.”

We also approached the Switzerland Global Enterprise for comment.

"As the official Swiss export promotion agency, we favor all ways that will facilitate trade for Swiss SME exporters," says a spokesperson.

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