Rail Freight
China has invested billions of USD in different infrastructure projects since president Xi Jinping announced the One Belt – One Road initiative (OBOR) in 2013. One direct effect of OBOR initiative has been the development of the Rail network between China and Europe, where container transport increased heavily during 2017.
Scandinavian Shipping & Logistics offer services from several different hubs in China. However, we mainly use Xian, due to the flexibility in the terminal and number of departures per week.
Although Xian is our main hub in China, we also cover rail hubs such as Zhengzhou, Suzhou, Ganzhou, Shenyang, Hefei, Wuhan, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing and Yiwu, to Warsaw and Hamburg. We handle both FCL (Full Container Load) and LCL (Less Container Load) from all over China.
Rail transport have several advantages compared to the more traditional way of transport; air and sea. Rail freight is up to 50 % cheaper than air freight, and the lead time from door to door, China to Sweden, is only 25-28 days compared with 45-50 days by sea. The environmental aspect is something we at Scandinavian Shipping & Logistics cares about. Therefore, we try to convince as many of our customers as possible to decrease their air freight cargo, due to heavy pollution.
It’s not unusual for us to hear that some of our customers have faced difficulties with their production in China. Forcing them to use air freight, in order to meet their customer’s deadline in Europe. With train freight it doesn’t have to be that way any longer. If the supplier delays the shipment for 7-14 days, missing the deadline for sea freight, we can offer rail transportation. Meeting most needs within that timeframe. Saving a lot of money for our customers, but even more important, reducing emissions.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions about the rail network between Europe and China, or if you would like a quotation.
