Asia to Europe – could the train take the strain?

Austrian-owned international forwarder Cargo-partner says that rail could offer an alternative to air and sea freight between Asia and Europe.

Full- and less-than-containerload rail options can offer a rapid, cost-efficient, and environmentally friendly alternative between Europe and China, and other places in Asia.

The operator says it has recently seen a surge in demand for rail services, due to Red Sea shipping crisis and has expanded its offerings to include connections to and from several places in Asia, such as Thailand and Taiwan.

Recent movements managed by Cargo-partner included an intermodal full container shipment from Thailand to Slovakia for an electrical manufacturer in February. This involved a truck from Thailand to Chongqing in China, export customs clearance and onward movement by rail to Małaszewicze in Poland where Cargo-partner took over for delivery to the final consignee near Kosice. Door-to-door transit time was only 32 days – much longer than by air but quicker than by sea.

Cargo-partner’s director of corporate product management for rail transport, Felix Miletich, anticipates a growing demand for intermodal solutions, particularly via the Chongqing-Europe and Wuhan-Europe rail routes.

In November 2023, Cargo-partner moved a 915kg compressor on a pallet by road from Bangkok, Thailand, via Laos and Vietnam to China and then by rail from Chongqing to Poland, with a transit time of 30 days.

It also offers regular less than containerload sea-rail services from Taiwan to Budapest via Shanghai, used by several European electronics and manufacturing companies.