Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA (ICF) was an internationally active logistics service provider. The company had its operational headquarters in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

and its legal headquarters in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Intercontainer specialized in intermodal container based transport. Intercontainer was created by the principal national railway companies of Europe, and these continued to be its principal shareholders, as well as being principal suppliers of traction and network access to the European national rail networks. During the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century the business underwent a strategic rationalization. Concentration focused more than before on linking the dynamic landlocked economies of central western Europe, notably

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, with major European north-western seaports of

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und

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, as well as the longer inland freight routes within eastern and south-eastern Europe and container freight to the CIS. The business was supported by a company fleet of approximately 2,300 rail wagons. In Switzerland the enterprise was registered as a railway company, with its principal activity given as "Operateur Kombiverkehr" (Operator of Combined (intermodal) transport). In 2007 Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA employed approximately 100 staff, and achieved a turnover of €140 Million, with a traffic volume equivalent to 415,800 Standard TEU (unit)s. By this time the volume was split between transport to and from sea ports, and transport between land-locked logistics centres, approximately in the ratio 50:50.

History

Intercontainer was established, originally, as a not for profit cooperative partnership between principal European rail companies, in 1967. In 1993 the business acquired and operations were pushed together with those of another not for profit cooperative partnership called Interfrigo which had been founded in 1949 and specialised in timely refrigerated rail transport of high volume goods, notably bananas carried from the port of

to principal European markets such as

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

. The resulting combination now became known as Intercontainer-Interfrigo. In 2003 the company was converted into an "

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG ) is a German language, German word for a corporation limited by Share (finance), share ownership (i.e., one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria ...

" (a form of

Joint-stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareho ...

) as defined under Belgian law.Eintrag der ehemaligen ''Interfrigo'' im Handelsregister des Kantons Basel-Stadt
On 26 November 2010 the owners placed the business in

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

with the stated intention of minimizing disruption to customers by transferring operation of the company's 145 or so weekly trains to the rail companies themselves.

Sources and notes

{{Authority control Logistics companies of Switzerland Railway companies of Switzerland Companies based in Basel Swiss companies established in 1967 Transport companies established in 1967