Zhengzhou starts rail cargo service to Hamburg
September 19, 2013 Category Logistics, Railway transport
Responding to rising trade volumes, Zhengzhou in Central China has started a rail service to Hamburg, Germany. The train takes 18 days to make the 10,214-kilometer trip, more than twice as fast as maritime transport. It can also effectively save 80% of the cost compared with air shipments, and it is also cheaper compared with road transportation. The route reaches Germany via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland. Zhengzhou International Inland Port Development Co is responsible for cooperating with partner rail companies in each country. The containers have to be transferred by crane to different gauges twice. First comes a change to the Russian style broad gauge line at the Kazakhstan-China border at Alashankou, in Xinjiang. The second is a transfer to the standard gauge at the Polish-Belarusian border. DB Schenker, the transport and logistics arm of Deutsche Bahn, is the rail route’s main partner outside China. It provides gauge transfers and technical services through its service network in Central Asia and East Europe after the trains leave China. The Railway Bureau in Zhengzhou said the first train to Europe carried 655 tons of goods worth USD1.52 million – including tires, textiles, shoes and apparel – in 51 containers. Two-thirds of the goods are from Henan and the rest from the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi. Shi Fenghua, Assistant to the General Manager of China Railway Container Transport’s Zhengzhou branch, said local traders used to transport their goods by road to ports in Liangyungang in Jiangsu or Qingdao in Shandong and then ship them overseas before the rail line came into operation. “We expect the majority of them will turn to the railroad in future for its efficiency and convenience,” Shi said. The Bureau charges CNY15,200 to transport a single container to the Alataw Pass. Customers have to pay separately for the remainder of the journey, from Xinjiang to Hamburg. There would be 14 such trains to Germany this year. In addition to the route from Zhengzhou to Hamburg, the Bureau has opened three branch lines to Moscow, Klaipeda in Lithuania and Almaty in Kazakhstan.
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