Freight Train from China Arrives in DuisburgA container train from Chongqing in China arrived yesterday night in Duisburg after traveling for scarcely 16 days. For the 10,300-kilometer journey along the so-called Southern route, the DB Schenker train, which was commissioned by a global company, completed the journey in about half the time that would have been necessary taking the sea route. The route taken by the train went south of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland to Germany. Previous test trains on several occasions have followed the entire route north of Mongolia taken by the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is 2,000 kilometers longer, but involves less customs formalities.
Chongqing, the “city of lights“ on the Yangtze Kiang, with a population of just under 30 million, is one of the largest and fastest growing cities in the world. Located in Sichuan Province in the Chinese hinterland, the city has developed into an important production center for various industries. Quite a few global companies of different industries operate in Chongqing. The majority of goods exported to Europe currently take the sea route, some are sent by air freight.
Transporting the containers to a Chinese seaport alone takes around three days. By the time they get there, the train to Duisburg will have already covered half of its journey through China along the Eurasian Land Bridge. Dr. Karl-Friedrich Rausch, Member of the Management Board of DB ML AG responsible for Transportation and Logistics, commenting on the arrival of the train in the Port of Duisburg, said: “Most important of all, the time taken for the journey from China’s interior, the train’s arrival in the middle of Germany and the possibility of delivering the containers from here to their destinations quickly and safely, demonstrate the attractiveness of our service. We hope that, with the journey now completed, we have once again convinced our customers of the advantages of such a train. According to our planning schedule regular services between China and Germany could begin within this year upon sufficient demand.“
Trans Eurasia Logistics and InterRail Services GmbH enter into Operations PartnershipAt the beginning of January, Trans Eurasia Logistics (TEL) took over transport services for the “Ostwind” container block trains which run between Germany and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The company has established a common operations platform with IRS InterRail Services, a Transinvest Group St. Gallen company. IRS previously marketed this service via a joint venture with ICF Intercontainer-Interfrigo SA. Shareholders voted to place ICF in liquidation at the end of November 2010 and some of its transport services have since been taken over by other companies.
Thanks to TEL’s involvement with “Ostwind”, there will be no interruption to the service provided to customers. Containers can be sent from twelve container terminals throughout Germany directly to Berlin-Großbeeren. The service is also available from Antwerp and Rotterdam. Trains run at least twice a week from the Berlin-Großbeeren freight terminal to the CIS and Mongolia. Within the CIS, destinations served include Moscow, Baku in Azerbaijan and Vladivostok. The range of services also includes direct TEL container trains between Duisburg and Moscow. The transport route runs via Frankfurt (Oder)– Malaszewicze/Brest–Bekasovo to the CIS countries. The Moscow-Vladivostok Trans-Siberian route is the main transport route to the Far East, Mongolia and China.
Trans Eurasia Logistics was founded in 2008 by Deutsche Bahn AG and Russian Railways (RZD), as well as their partners Polzug, Kombiverkehr and Transcontainer. The joint venture headquartered in Berlin specializes in logistics services for container transport between Western Europe and Russia. TEL provides through services from Germany to Russia via the operators Polzug and Kombiverkehr. Shuttle trains from Germany’s economic centers are combined into block trains which regularly run to Moscow.
As well as core transport services, delivery services are also provided for pre- and onward carriage, as well as tracking and tracing and customs clearance. In the long-term, there are also plans to develop additional services such as storage at terminals.
Until now we have offered transport services from locations in Duisburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp and you can already take advantage of gateway connections via Duisburg. We have now expanded our range of services and our rail network so you can also use our services at terminals in Mannheim, Leipzig, Basel, Munich, Nuremberg, Kornwestheim, Frankfurt am Main, Ulm and Großbeeren.
Flyer Duisburg – Brest