Lineas, Belgium’s principal rail freight operator, is at the heart of the pilot project which has begun moving thousands of litres of Jupiler beer from the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery near Liège to food and drink wholesaler Delhaize’s warehouse in Ninove, just outside Brussels.

Sustainable rail option

The service has been set up with the help of the Province of East Flanders, as part of a concerted effort to address pressure on the nation’s roads by creating opportunities for a sustainable rail freight option. The main effect will be felt on the ring road around Brussels, where until now lorries have been making daily deliveries between the two sites. Described by those involved as an ‘unnatural collaboration’ because it brings together partners from different sectors, the expectation is that a three-times weekly train service will, in the long term, mean 5,000 fewer lorry journeys being made every year.

Denis Koops, CEO of Delhaize, said: “The beer that we purchase from AB InBev is usually loaded onto lorries near Liège and brought to our distribution centre in Ninove via road. This adds up to a few thousand lorries per year. Sustainability is central at Delhaize and that’s why we always look for solutions to reduce the pressure on mobility, thereby contributing to a sustainable future.

Green logistics

Alexander Soenen, Logistics Director, at AB InBev, said: “The beer train is a typical example of how we at AB take the lead in green logistics. We constantly look for the best combinations to deliver beer to the consumer in a sustainable manner, without losing freshnesss and quality, via our multimodal transport chain. The beer boat and the ecocombi are other examples of how we want to fulfil our ambitious, worldwide objective to achieve at least a 25 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide by the end of 2017.”

Belgian ‘beer train’ will save 5,000 annual lorry road miles