China-Europe freight trains weekly commentary（Sep.19-Sep.25)

China-Europe?freight?train?operation updates (Week 39)

In Week 39, the China-Europe?freight?trains were running well, and the transloading efficiency of ports was greatly improved. The average handling time at Alashankou, Khorgos and other ports was about 2 days. On the European-bound routes, it takes about 12-14 days for the trains to travel from main domestic terminals to Malaszewicze, and 18-20 days to Duisburg and Hamburg, which was 3-4 days faster than what we have recorded last month. Due to the maintenance of some rail sections in Europe, the train to Budapest takes longer and is nearly 30 days. The operation of Russian-bound service was hindered due to the weakening capacity of the Russian railway and some import containers are still waiting at the port. It should be noted that the service from Guiyang to Moscow and St. Petersburg runs smoothly, with almost no delay, and the overall transit time is 14-16 days. The trains to Central Asia depart and arrive at the station stably, with a transit time of about 15-20 days.

As?the Chinese National holiday is coming soon, the market volatile a lot. The spaces for early October were almost fully booked at the Chengdu with demand growing, while those at Xi’an were relatively sufficient. The spot freight rate is basically the same as last week. The leasing price of containers from South China and East China to Europe was basically flat, while the price of containers to Malaszewicze was slightly higher than that to Duisburg and Hamburg.

In addition, according to the insiders, due to the deterioration of the conflict in Russia and Ukraine, the transshipment capacity of Vladivostok has become a bottleneck. The spot rate for sea-rail intermodal transport have exceeded that of rail.

Cargo leaves China for Afghanistan on new route via Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan

China has dispatched a first load of freight to Afghanistan on a new road and rail route transiting Central Asia which will cut travel time by several weeks.?The multimodal route starts in Xinjiang then passes through Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan before entering Afghanistan.

Cargo will travel along the first stage?–?around 500 kilometers from the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang to Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan by road.?At Osh, the cargo will be loaded onto trains.They will cross eastern Uzbekistan then head south into Afghanistan to arrive at Hairatan, which links with the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif along an Uzbek-built railway line.

The first train left Kashgar on September 13 loaded with foodstuffs, household goods and other products and is expected to arrive in Afghanistan on September 21.

China signs cooperation memorandum with Laos, Kazakhstan to establish yuan clearing arrangements

The People's Bank of China (PBC), China's central bank, announced on Sep.20 that it has signed a cooperation memorandum with the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Bank of the Lao PDR to establish Chinese yuan clearing arrangements in the two countries.

The move will be beneficial for enterprises and financial institutions in China and Laos as well as Kazakhstan, allowing them to use yuan for cross-border transactions and further promoting bilateral trade and investment, the PBC noted.

Laos, Thailand, China to build new railway bridge for freight

Laos, Thailand, and China are thinking about building a new railway bridge, running parallel to the first Lao-Thai friendship bridge, to assist the cross-border transport of containers, according to the Lao media.The construction will start 30m from the first Lao-Thai friendship bridge and have a total of four railway lines.

Now, due to a difference in track gauges, Thai cargo containers headed for China need to be unloaded from trains at a container terminal in Nong Khai and loaded onto container trucks to cross the Lao-Thai friendship bridge to Vientiane. Here they are then loaded onto the Laos-China railway for shipment to China.

Thailand is keen to use the railway to ship more agricultural products to China, particularly orchids, rubber, cassava, palm oil, and fishery and livestock products.

Trains?in?Eastern?Corridor keep increasing

According to the China State Railway GrHARBIN－in the first half, over 373 China-Europe freight trains passed through Suifenhe Port to Europe and carried 34,942 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of goods, up 74.3 percent and 82.9 percent year-on-year, respectively.Such an increase in international freight trains has been seen in the whole eastern corridor of the China-Europe freight train service. From January to June, a total of 2,212 trains and 212,866 TEUs of goods were handled at Manzhouli?port?both registering a year-on-year increase of 7.7 percent.

China-Europe freight train（Chengdu）launched it’s first train with Post Parcel

With the sound of a whistle, a train carrying parcels from China Post departed from Chengdu International Railway Port to Malaszewicze, Poland, marking the official launch of Postal train?of?China-Europe freight train (Chengdu).

The train, carrying goods from Sichuan to 12 European countries including the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Denmark, will leave through Khorgos port in Xinjiang, passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus, and is expected to arrive in Mala, Poland in 20 days. And then transferred from the Polish Post to other European Posts. The goods in the train are mainly daily necessities, accessories, racks and snacks made in Sichuan.

The China-Europe?freight?train?(Great?Bay Area)?has been running for two years,?moving 6.5 billion?worthy?goods

According to customs statistics, since the first launch of the China-Europe freight train(Great Bay Area)?on August 18, 2020, the demand has grown steadily. Up to now, the train has run 244?roundtrips, transporting 141,000 tons of goods, and the value of goods has exceeded 6.5 billion yuan. At present,?this route has?covered 38 countries including Russia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Italy, etc., providing stable and reliable international logistics services for more than 3,000 enterprises in Shenzhen and surrounding cities.

More than 500 trains have passed through Khorgos this year

On September 20,?a?train?loaded with 50 containers of daily necessities, cotton yarn, auto parts departed from Xi'an International Port to Malaszewicz, Poland.It will leave from Khorgos rail port. This is the 5,032nd China-Europe freight train entering and leaving the country through Khorgos in 2022, breaking the 5,000-line mark 27 days earlier than last year.