News / Lidl box carrier Tailwind adds another vessel to its expanding fleet

Photo: United Shipping Companies

German supermarket chain Lidl’s in-house container carrier, Tailwind Shipping, this week welcomed its latest newbuild, the 1,400 teu Panda 004, to its rapidly expanding fleet.

The vessel was named in the Dutch port of Moerdijk on Monday and has been deployed on the carrier’s Dolphin Express (DEX) service, a shuttle string between Barcelona and Moerdijk, joining sister vessel Panda 003.

Barcelona acts as Tailwind’s chief European hub – the end port of its Asia-Europe PAX service, and where containers are transhipped onto Tailwind-operated feeder services to its two European gateways, Moerdijk and the Slovenian port of Koper.

Tailwind MD Christian Stangl said: “For both Lidl, our main customer, and other customers, Moerdijk is ideally located to deliver goods to north-west Europe and, as a feeder service, it offers an attractive alternative, such as transporting goods across Europe via lorry.”

Panda 003 and Panda 004 were both built in China, at Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Shipbuilding, for Hamburg-based shipowner Elbdeich. They are 170 metres long with a beam of 27 metres, and feature slots that can hold both shortsea and out-of-gauge intermodal containers.

In addition, they offer 378 reefer slots, a very large number for what is effectively a medium-sized feeder vessel and reflects the high percentage of perishable shipments by Lidl and sister supermarket chain Kaufland – both brands are owned by the privately controlled Schwarz Group.

According to vesselsvalue.com, the two ships each have a market value of $33m and are on one-year time-charters to Tailwind, whose fleet growth since the pandemic has been impressive.

“Following the homogenisation of the fleet, just a bit over two years after its founding, the start-up shipping company now has a total capacity of around 40,000 teu, spread over nine vessels,” said Tailwind.

In parallel, Schwarz Group has also been extending its control over its inbound-Europe supply chain. Following the creation of Tailwind Intermodal in April – which saw it launch intermodal blocktrains from Koper to an inland hub in the Austrian city of Graz – July saw it win EC competition approval to acquire, through its investment vehicle CE-Beteiligungs, what is reportedly a 35% stake in Austrian haulage company Gartner Transport Holding.

Gartner operates 2,100 trucks and 3,200 trailers, and recorded a turnover of just under €650m in 2023 from 670,000 road transport and 35,000 intermodal shipments. It employs 3,700 staff across 23 locations in eight EU countries.