Photo taken on April 21, 2016, shows a freight train from Wuhan, China, arrives for the first time at the freight railway station in Saint-Priest, outside Lyon, south-eastern France. Several Chinese cities including Chongqing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Changsha and Shenyang have rail freight services to Europe. (Xinhua/Zheng Bin)
Since "YUXIN'OU" (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) railway line came into use in 2011, China-Europe freight train services, with a growing number of trans-continental railway lines and increasing cargo volume, have become important to the ancient Silk Road.
According to industry experts, China-Europe freight train services have been providing solutions for the international logistics industry and promoting international trade ties and economic development with countries along the Silk Road.
MORE TRAINS COMING FROM CHINA
Recently, DIT Intermodal Terminal located in Duisburg, Germany is facing challenges. Usually, it takes two or three days for the freight to be transported to the next location. As the Belt and Road Initiative has developed in recent years, the largest container intermodal terminal in Duisburg is now reaching its capacity limit with the growing need of Eurasian Railway logistic services.
"More trains are coming from China," said Michael Suessmuth, sales manager at DIT Intermodal Terminal. Behind him, containers bearing the logo "CRExpress" (China Railway Express) are piled three or four layers deep.
DIT Intermodal Terminal is the largest one among the nine terminals in Duisburg, serving as a main distribution center of containers for local railway transportation. Since 2011, the number of scheduled freight trains from China arriving at this terminal has increased from one to eight trains per week. It is also from here that all the products coming from China are distributed by road, railway, or water to other European destinations.
At present, goods such as car parts, IT products and clothing are transported by China-Europe freight trains to Europe, while returning to China with European products such as mechanical equipment and food products.
According to Chen Si, Rail Eurasia-China desk manager of Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, the freight train transport between China and Europe takes about 14 days, shaving off two-thirds of the time it takes to ship by sea and four-fifths of the cost of shipping by air.
"From 2014 to 2015, the amount of containers transported by Hellmann through China-Europe freight trains had increased by 430 percent," said Chen. Over the past six years, the personnel in charge of China-Europe freight train service in Hellmann has also been expanded by three times into a unified operation body in Asia, former CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) regions and Europe.
DIRECT LINK BETWEEN ASIA AND EUROPE
The railway transport between China and Europe before 2011 was not as convenient as it is today. Chen said a one-way trip between China and Europe used to take 40 days, owing to incomplete railway lines and inadequate goods volume.
FELB (Far East Land Bridge Ltd.) started its business in railway lines between China and Europe in 2007. FELB business development manager Shan Jing said the railway transport system had not been organized until the China-Europe freight train service project.
Now, the trans-continental trains operated by FELB depart mainly from Shenyang, Suzhou, Changsha, leaving China by way of Manchuria. Every week, three or four trains arrive in European cities such as Warsaw, Duisburg and Hamburg.
