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EGGER Group: Environmentally friendly rail transport for wood materials

17. 06. 2021

The EGGER Group, headquartered in St. Johann in Tyrol, develops high-quality solutions for living and working with wood. This makes EGGER one of the leading European companies in the wood-based materials industry. When it comes to logistics, EGGER has always relied on rail.

We asked our customer about how the products are transported and what the good partnership with RCG is all about.

What does your company deal with?

Our family-owned company has been in existence since 1961 and employs approximately 10,100 people. These produce a comprehensive range of wood materials - particleboard, OSB and MDF - as well as sawn timber at 20 locations worldwide. As a result, we were able to generate sales of 2.83 billion euros in the 2019/2020 fiscal year.

What products do you transport by rail?

Basically, we can transport raw materials such as chemical precursors and wood, as well as finished or semi-finished products (raw and refined particleboard, etc.) by rail. Packages, for example, are loaded onto closed wagons, containers onto open platforms, and glue into liquid tanks. All of our major sites have their own rail connections. These are used wherever logistically possible for inter-plant transport. As a matter of principle, we aim to use rail and sea freight, especially for inter-plant transport and long distances. The transport of glue, which we need for wood-based material production, is always carried out by rail. In transport logistics to customers, we reduce transport distances and also use combined transport.

What are your products used for?

EGGER has customers worldwide in the furniture industry, the wood and flooring trade, and in DIY stores. Our products can be found in countless areas of private and public life: in kitchens, bathrooms, offices, living rooms and bedrooms. EGGER sees itself as a full-range supplier for furniture and interior construction, for structural timber engineering and for wood-based flooring.

How long have you been a customer of RCG?

Actually, we have been working with the railroad since our company was founded in St. Johann in Tyrol in 1961; it has always been an important means of transport for us.

Why did you decide to transport your goods by rail?

For us, transport by rail is characterized above all by very good plannability and helps us significantly in optimizing loading capacities. In addition, rail is a very environmentally friendly means of transport and every transport by rail helps to reduce road traffic and to relieve transit routes.

What does sustainability mean to you?

EGGER attaches great importance to sustainability and, above all, the sustainable use of raw materials. The focus of our actions is the complete material cycle. To achieve this, we rely on fully integrated sites with short transport routes. At these locations, wood is first recycled, from solid wood production in the sawmill to the production of wood-based materials. Wood residues and recycled wood that are not suitable for production are used for energy in our own biomass power plants. Environmentally friendly logistics systems also contribute to the sustainable use of raw materials.