China to Europe rail link to shorten transit time
January 10, 2008 by SwizStick
Filed under China, QuickNews, Supply Chain Management
A test train already departed China last week. If everything goes according to plan, this could be potentially huge for the China-Europe trade as, according to this article, it will shorten transit times between Beijing and Hamburg from 40 days by sea to just 18 days by train:
China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany signed an agreement on Wednesday, Jan 9 that will speed up transport of goods and cargo between Asia and China and halve current traveling time by sea.
The treaty aims to simplify customs and border checks, according to the China Daily.
“Barring any complications, a scheduled container train should be shuttling between China and Germany in a year’s time,” said Zheng Mingli, chairman of China Railway Container Transport, according to the report.
The route, which will link Beijing and Hamburg, is expected to boost trade and cargo flows between the two continents and would allow goods to be delivered in a record 18 days. Currently, delivery of cargo by sea between the two destinations takes about 40 days.
This is a huge investment in money, time, and cooperation amongst the five countries involved. While I am sure they all have a vested interest in making this work, I could see potential problems due to political difficulties with the various countries involved. Russia and Europe have a sometimes rocky relationship, Europe has their own concerns with China, and Belarus is essentially a rigidly controlled dictatorship at odds with the EU. Any serious political clashes between the countries involved could result in big problems with such a lengthy rail connection. However, I think they all deserve credit for such a difficult and bold undertaking. If successful, this would have a huge impact on cargo between China and Europe.
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