The German retail behemoth Lidl has embarked on transportation for long distances over the past two years, a venture it is now intensifying. It began in July 2022 by establishing the specialized container transport company, Tailwind Shipping Lines, operating on the route between China, Bangladesh, and Europe with six container ships. The vessels have capacities ranging from 803 to 6,078 TEU. Additionally, the company owns 21,000 ambient temperature containers and 300 refrigerated ones.
In March 2024, Lidl extended its activities to land with the initiation of Tailwind Intermodal, which uses the port of Koper as its hub. From here, the new company manages the rail transport - operated by Adria Transport - of the full containers unloaded from the ships of Tailwind Shipping Lines operating the Panda Express service towards the Graz terminal in Austria, with a frequency that can reach up to five trips a day. From there, containers can be dispatched to various European destinations.
According to the research firm Linerlytica, Tailwind Shipping Lines has achieved the thirty-eighth position in the ranking of container ship fleets by hold capacity and shows the highest growth rate, at 43%.
