Intermodal Transport

New Shandong-Europe Express links China and Hamburg

Published

5 days ago

May 1, 2020

Hafen Hamburg Marketing – Port of Hamburg

New Shandong-Europe Express links China and Hamburg. Image: from left: Senator Michael Westhagemann and Consul General DU Xiaohui / HHM/Catharina Pape

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China is the Port of Hamburg’s most important trade partner. Hamburg serves as the gateway to Europe for Chinese goods. Along with handling ocean shipping, the port city is also an important railway hub for transports to and from China. The new Shandong-Europe Express train from Jinan arrived in Hamburg’s Billwerder Terminal for the first time today. It carries valuable and time-sensitive cargo from China to Europe along the New Silk Road.

On April 10, the “Shandong-Europe Express” set out from Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, on its way to Hamburg. The train is loaded with 41 40-foot containers (FEU) filled with wind turbine parts, LEDs, tools, and medical supplies. Currently, the train only operates from China to Europe. Carriage in the other direction is not being offered at this time. The next departures from Jinan are scheduled for May 16 and 30. The freight train is operated by the Shandong Hi-Speed Group as part of their Qilu Europe-Asia freight traffic service.

“The Shandong Express arrived Hamburg in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. It is a powerful sign in trying times for all of us. We can only overcome the coronavirus by working together. We can only meet the challenges during and after the crisis by working together. We can only manage it together,” Chinese Consul General DU Xiaohui emphasized at the train’s arrival.

“Hamburg is not only a hub for ocean shipping with China, but also an important junction for rail traffic between Europe and China on the New Silk Road,” Axel Mattern, Executive Board Member of Port of Hamburg Marketing (HHM) stated.

Hamburg’s Senator for Economics, Michael Westhagemann added: “I’m very pleased to see that we are able to improve the connections between Hamburg and China even further. Landside connections, particularly transport by rail, provide the Port of Hamburg with great opportunities and are one of its strengths: 12 percent of German rail cargo transport arrives at or departs from the Port of Hamburg. This puts us in an excellent starting position to make good use of this strength in a sustainable way on the Silk Road in the future.”

The Province of Shandong is located on the east coast of China, with the Shandong peninsula forming the southern coast of the Bohai Gulf. According to its gross domestic product (GDP), Shandong is economically the third most important province of China. Industries in the areas of electronics, machinery, chemicals, textiles, and food processing are located there. The Port of Qingdao provides the province with ocean connections to the Port of Hamburg.

The new rail service between Jinan and Hamburg further improves the already extensive supply of train connections between Hamburg. Last year, 204 train connections per week were marketed and run between the Port of Hamburg and 20 destinations in China. Beijing, Changchun, Changsha, Chengdu, Chonqing, Dalina, Ganzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Qingdao, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Shilong, Suzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan, Yiamen, Xi’an, Yiwu, and Zhengzhou were regularly linked with Hamburg via the New Silk Road. In 2019, around 100,000 standard containers (TEU) were transported by rail.

The Port of Hamburg has a throughput of about 2.6 million TEU of seaborne containers for China annually. Almost every third container handled on the quays there is coming from or headed to China.

There are three modes of transport to choose from when shipping goods to or from China: ships, trains, or airplanes. Costs and time are important factors in this decision. Airfreight is obviously the fastest. It can move import and export cargo between Asia and Europe in one to two days. However, it is also very costly. Ocean shipping between the continents is very inexpensive, but it can take up to eight weeks for the goods to reach their destination. The third possibility, shipping by rail, closes the gap between airplanes and ships. Trains take two to three weeks for the route between Europe and Asia. In terms of costs, rail cargo is also in between air and sea transport.

Related Topics:Intermodal Transport Maritime Sea Port

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Container Shipping Lines

Maersk’s first intercontinental train from Europe to Asia dispatched from St. Petersburg

Published

1 month ago

March 30, 2020

Maersk

Maersk’s first intercontinental train from Europe to Asia dispatched from St. Petersburg. Image: Maersk

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The first Eastbound train on Maersk’s AE19 service was dispatched from St. Petersburg port in the eastward direction, carrying goods from Europe to Asia. The overall transit time of the new intercontinental service from ports in North Europe to ports in Korea and Japan will be between 23 and 32 days, which is a reduction by half compared to 52-57 days via the traditional Ocean route.

The train loaded with plywood and chemical products from North Europe left the FCT port terminal in St. Petersburg to the terminal VSC in the port of Vostochniy in the Russian Far East (both terminals are part of Global Ports group). Upon arrival to Vostochniy, containers will be loaded on Maersk’s short-sea vessels for delivery to Korea and Japan.

Maersk launched the AE19 service in August 2019 in partnership with Russian partners Modul and Global Ports to offer a complementary product for more time-sensitive cargoes moving from Asia to Europe, connecting the ports of Vostochniy and St. Petersburg in Russia.

“AE19 service provides our customers not only with a faster delivery solution, but also at a lower cost than airfreight. So far, the service has been used for westbound shipments from Asia to Europe only, however as the service has been experiencing a steady growth since the beginning of 2020, it has further enabled shipments in the opposite direction from Europe to Asia as well. The customer demand to develop the Eastbound service, especially within the automotive, technology, chemicals and industrial verticals, has further led to the launch of this service”, shares Kasper Krogh, Head of Intercontinental Rail at A.P. Moller – Maersk.

Maersk provides its customers with flexible transport solutions, enabling them to find the most suitable options to transfer their goods. The customers can easily switch transport modes between Ocean and Rail solutions, which allows them to react quickly to changing market demands.

The next eastbound shipment on AE19 from St. Petersburg will be made on 08.04, and thereafter will be provided on fortnightly basis.

Intermodal Transport

FESCO and RZD Logistics expanding range of goods transported from Asia-Pacific countries to Europe within Trans-Siberian LandBridge service

Published

1 month ago

March 23, 2020

FESCO

FESCO and RZD Logistics expanding range of goods transported from Asia-Pacific countries to Europe within Trans-Siberian LandBridge service. Image: FESCO

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As a part of the development of the transit cargo expedited delivery service Trans-Siberian LandBridge, FESCO Transportation Group and RZD Logistics JSC are expanding the range of goods for transportation from Asia-Pacific countries to Europe and now are also going to transport hazardous cargo.

Containers with acids, used in the pharmaceuticals and industry, and with spare parts and various equipment were delivered from Qingdao (China) and Pusan (Korea) respectively to the Commercial port of Vladivostok (CPV, is FESCO’s entity) by regular FESCO service, where they were loaded on an expedited container train that arrived at Brest on March 10th, Vladivostok-Brest total transit time was 12 days. Then the containers were reloaded on the rolling-stock track 1435 and after arriving at the destination were delivered by truck to the warehouses of the clients in Poland, Belgium and Germany.

“We can see that the clients are interested in Trans-Siberian LandBridge service, so we have decided to expand the range of goods for transportation and added hazardous cargo transportation option, which is highly demanded now. Considering our competence, experience and having our assets on every stage of the intermodal transportation process, we can guarantee our clients delivery time compliance and, more importantly, safety during the transportation to any destination in Europe”, – says Maхim Sakharov, the President of FESCO.

“Hazardous cargo transportation from Asia-Pacific countries to Europe is quite a promising area of business. Today, when hazardous cargo is transported by sea, we are ready to offer the market a tried-and-true service within Trans-Siberian LandBridge, ensuring both cargo safety and delivery time double reduction”, – noted Dmitry Murev, general director of RZD Logistics JSC.

At the end of May 2019, the companies launched Trans-Siberian LandBridge service, and at the same time sent a test container from the Japanese port of Yokohama to the Wroclaw city in Poland. At the end of July, the geography of the service was expanded, enabling transportation from the Republic of Korea to Europe.

Intermodal Transport

VolkerRail is going to construct the Theemsweg Route railway track

Published

2 months ago

March 17, 2020

Port of Rotterdam

VolkerRail is going to construct the Theemsweg Route railway track. Image: Port of Rotterdam

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The Port of Rotterdam Authority is awarding the contract to construct the superstructure of the new Theemsweg Route, part of the Port of Rotterdam railway line to VolkerRail – part of VolkerWessels. Work is expected to start in the second half of this year.

The contract involves the construction of the track, the overhead lines and various components of the train protection systems. The substructure, a four-kilometre stretch of concrete viaduct and two steel arched bridges, has been under construction by the SaVe consortium since mid-2018. The implementation is taking place in close coordination with ProRail.

Bottleneck solution

The Theemsweg Route is a solution for the problems at the Calandbrug near Rozenburg. This steel vertical-lift bridge for rail, road and slow traffic in the Port of Rotterdam area is the connecting link in the Betuwe Route to the European hinterland. For ocean shipping, the vertical-lift bridge forms the gateway to the Brittanniëhaven.

Due to the anticipated growth in rail transport and ocean shipping traffic to and from the Brittanniëhaven, the Port Authority provides a capacity bottleneck solution for train traffic. The construction of the Theemsweg Route resolves this bottleneck.

Improved flow, sustainable alternative

Ronald Paul, Chief Operating Officer at the Port Authority: ‘We continually invest in the accessibility to the Port of Rotterdam and the region. As such, the port railway line and therefore the Theemsweg Route are of great importance. Good connections to the hinterland are essential for the Port of Rotterdam’s competitive position. Better utilisation of the existing Betuwe Route is not only useful from an economic point of view. Freight transport over rail is also environmentally friendly and safe.’

The construction of the entire Theemsweg Route involves an investment of around €300 million (excluding VAT). According to the schedule, the new route will put into use at the end of 2021.