Suez crisis boosted China-Europe rail freight service

The recent problems in the Suez Canal have boosted transport of freight from China into Europe and the Chinese-owned U-Frieigh Group is experiencing increasing volumes of cargo being sent via rail freight services from China to Europe and Scandinavia, media Ajot writes in a recently published article.

According to the article, Simon Wong, chief executive officer of the U-Freight Group comments: “Clearly supply chain planners are reappraising what was once a completely dominant Suez Canal route from China into Europe, with intermodal rail continuing a sharp upward trajectory in 2021, following on from a strong 2020.” He states that U-Freight handles significant consol shipments from China to Sweden, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and The Netherlands in particular, together with smaller volumes to other European countries. The shipments are handled by U-Freight’s network of long-standing agents once the shipments arrive at the three rail freight hubs on the continent.

“Although the first China-Europe container freight train was in 2011, it has taken a decade and considerable investment by China’s government to see the route become an established part of logistics networks,” Simon Wong said.

“The COVID pandemic and the capacity problems in the air and ocean sectors have pushed the route to much heavier usage, with the recent blockage of the Suez Canal leading to additional traffic,” he added.

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