CEVA adds to growing rail links from China to Europe
26 / 06 / 2017
Another new rail link from China to Europe has opened, with CEVA Logistics launching a service from Shilong in southern China’s Guangdong province to Hamburg in Germany.
In conjunction with the Chinese state railway company, the new regular block trains will route Shilong, Manzhouli (China), Zabakalsky (Russia), Brest (Belarus), Malaszewicze (Poland) and Hamburg with a station-to-station lead time of 17-19 days.
CEVA said that its new year-round service will save customers up to two days compared with other routings and will also "deliver cost savings as a result".
There have been a spate of rail services connecting China and Europe over the last few years. The air cargo industry is increasingly seeing the option as a threat. It offers a lower price than airfreight and a faster transit time than seafreight.
CEVA first initiated its China-to-Europe rail services from Suzhou in 2010 and has built a network encompassing key Chinese cities through its "northern route" operation including Suzhou, Changsha, Shenyang, Hefei, Chongqing, Chengdu, Zhengzhou and Wuhan to European destinations including Moscow, Warsaw, Lodz, Duisburg, Hamburg, Nuremburg and Tilburg.
From there it uses its trucking network for onward delivery to major European cities. In addition to the new "southern route" and its existing "northern route" CEVA also operates a "middle route" via Mongolia to Europe to shorten lead times during the winter months and peak season. .
CEVA operates both less-than-container load (LCL) and full container load (FCL) services ex-China, which are managed through its control tower in Shenzhen with dedicated rail and road connection teams delivering high-standard customer service through a single contact point.
They also provide users of this door-to-door service with 24/7 real time tracking through CEVA’s web portal to provide them with total visibility on the journey.
"This new link further extends our comprehensive rail services between China and Europe and enables us to provide customers with a reliable, highly secure door-to-door service with real-time track and trace along the route," stated Kelvin Tang, CEVA’s Head of cross border, Greater China.
