
It is our pleasure to share the article from our member NVD Asia – Stefanie Leber.
China to Europe rail freight has emerged as a vital component of global trade, providing an efficient and cost-effective alternative to air and sea transport.
Being international forwarders, we all deal with seafreight and airfreight on a very regular basis, with seafreight being slow and comparably cheap and airfreight being fast, but expensive. We even used sea-air services in the past, mainly via Dubai, for cargo being too urgent for sea, but not urgent enough for air. But this service more and more disappeared from the market.
I have to admit, I did not believe in the success of rail services from China, when we first talked about it ten years ago. But I was so wrong! The China State Railway Group believes that since its inception in 2011 the rail service has transported more than 8.7 million containers. The value of goods transport rose from US$ 8bn in 2016 to US$56.7bn in 2023. These rail services are running from different rail heads in China now (Xian, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Yiwu, Chengdu) to different destinations in Europe (Duisburg, Hamburg, Malaszewizce, etc.).
It is affectionately known by some as the ‘Steel Camel Caravan’, and we at NVD created our specialist rail team in response to the demand some years ago already. Our services vary from weekly departures up to almost daily departures with standard and express service options. Transit times vary from incredible 14 days under express service up to 28 days under standard service, always depending on origin station and provider. Our colleagues are always able to recommend (or dissuade) specific services or give advice on possible delays or equipment issues.
Besides regular FCL transports, NVD Asia also runs different rail consol services on a weekly basis: -
For the German market, we offer weekly services from Xian to Hamburg, Duisburg / Velbert and Nuremberg under both express and standard service.
From Chongqing we offer same destinations under standard service.
For the Swiss market, we run a weekly service from Xian to Zurich.
The Dutch market is served with a weekly service from Xian to Amsterdam under express service, same as our new UK service, which is devanned in Ipswich / Felixstowe.
Rail works a bit different from other transport modes, in regards to pricing, calculation, space availability, etc. but be assured, once you are in this, you will love it!
Interested to learn more?
Stefanie Leber
Miow Chuin Gui
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