thyssenkrupp Steel, Germany’s largest flat steel producer with an annual production volume of around 11 million tonnes of crude steel, with a logistics volume of 125 million tonnes – divided between incoming raw materials, internal transport and outgoing deliveries. The internal rail transports at the Duisburg locations, transporting a volume of around 40 million tonnes, are handled by the company’s own railway undertking, the largest of its kind in Europe with 80 locomotives and 1,500 wagons.

For outbound logistics, thyssenkrupp Steel relies on a multimodal approach that focuses on rail, waterways or road transport depending on the relation. “Rail is a cornerstone of our logistics strategy,” explains Torben Beyhoff, Head of Procurement Land Transport. “It helps us to minimise CO2 emissions and establish a sustainable logistics model – not only for us, but also for our customers.”

The game-changer for finding the right transport provider

“Our primary responsibility is managing costs to remain competitive, which we achieve by fostering a healthy environment among transport providers. We also need to ensure sufficient capacity and flexibility to meet customer demands and deliver the right volumes on time,” explains Torben. Finding the right transport providers, particularly in new regions, was historically challenging and relied on manual processes. “While platforms like Transporeon digitized road freight, rail remained highly manual,” Torben adds. Recognizing these inefficiencies, thyssenkrupp Steel sought a tailored digital solution for rail.

With Rail-Flow’s Purchase & Tender Management (PTM) platform, the company now addresses these challenges effectively. After a short onboarding, they simplified the process of publishing rail freight tenders and spot requests. The platform connects thyssenkrupp Steel to over 200 transport providers across Europe, creating new collaboration opportunities. “PTM allows us to issue requests, streamline communication, and ensure compliance-all within a single platform,” Torben highlights. “This has reduced administrative workload, improved procurement efficiency, and enabled faster responses to market demands.”

The solution that proves itself

The PTM platform provided crucial support to thyssenkrupp Steel in addressing two key challenges: ensuring reliable customer deliveries and managing short-haul transport within a circular economy.

Case 1: Ensuring customer deliveries

The supply of a major customer was at risk because a strategic partner failed to meet quality standards. “We needed an alternative solution for transport to our customers in southern Italy,” explains Torben Beyhoff. The idea was born to extend an established logistics chain across the Rhine to Basel by rail transport from Basel to Maddaloni.

Thanks to the PTM platform, thyssenkrupp Steel was able to publish a spot tender for this route and find a reliable and cost-efficient rail solution – in a region where the manual search for transport providers would have meant considerable effort.

Why not ship directly by rail from the Ruhr area? The answer lies in the shipments coming from different production sites. thyssenkrupp Steel’s pre-logistics process is streamlined to transport goods to the Duisburg port, from where an comparatively cost-effective barge route leads to Basel. “The result was that we were able to secure our customer’s supply at attractive conditions,” Torben adds. Following this success, the company is now exploring the possibility of making this spot request a regular transport solution.

Case 2: Short-haul, circular economy transport

Torben continued: “We also used the PTM platform for an unconventional short-haul transport of processed by-products from our plants – a distance of just eleven kilometres as part of our circular economy initiative.”

Through the Rail-Flow platform, thyssenkrupp Steel received compelling offers, even though this short distance is not the business concept of a railway undertaking. “The offers came among others from providers that we had not worked with before or that we would not even have considered. This demonstrates how the Purchase & Tender Management platform can unlock new opportunities for suppliers and improve sourcing efficiency, even for atypical transport needs.”

Future-ready logistics through a digital shift

With the Purchase & Tender Management platform, thyssenkrupp Steel has significantly streamlined its procurement processes. The shift from fragmented workflows involving emails and Excel to a centralized digital platform has drastically reduced manual effort while ensuring reliable customer transport and competitive transport costs.

“We anticipate this transformation will extend not only within our company but also to our transport partners,” explains Torben. “Instead of receiving offers via email, we are increasingly transitioning to platform-based processes.” This shift not only optimizes internal workflows but also encourages partners to adopt more efficient and digital practices.

“We are excited to expand our use of the Rail-Flow PTM platform to cover additional transport types and routes. Our goal is to continue finding new efficiencies across our entire logistics portfolio and leverage digital platforms to stay agile in a competitive market.”