Freight Moves in China-to-London Train in 15 Days

· Sea Shipping Time Cut by 50%

· Air Costs Halved

· China is on Track to overcome the Freight Disadvantage

· OBOR Planned 2013 comes True

The newest way to send freight from China to Europe involves is spending 15 days on a train.

On 3 January in Yiwu in eastern China, a bright orange locomotive pulling 44 containers laden with suitcases, clothes and an assortment of household goods set off on a 7,500-mile (12,000km) journey to western Europe.

Ten containers were taken off at the German cargo hub of Duisburg. The rest made up the first cargo train from China to arrive in London at Barking’s Eurohub freight terminal.

London is the 15th European city for China’s rail cargo. Last year, 1,702 freight trains made the voyage to Europe, more than double the 2015 figure.

Yiwu Timex Industrial Investments, which is running this service with China’s state-run railways, says prices are half that of air cargo and cut two weeks off the journey time by sea.

Market demand

The UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, uses rail to carry toys, electrical goods, homeware and clothing from China to European rail hubs such as Bratislava in Slovakia and Krasnaje in Belarus.

This decision to move by rail would normally be driven by customer demand for particular products, he says.

It demonstrates how market demand and the realities of globalisation are increasingly allowing China’s President Xi Jinping to realise his ambitious plan to revive the ancient Silk Road.

Trade route

For centuries the fabled trade route from the ancient capital of Xian provided a link to the bustling markets of European cities such as Istanbul and Venice.

In the 21st Century China has become the world’s biggest exporter, with the export of goods totalling $2.28 trillion in 2015.

This rail expansion is part of President Xi’s “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) trade policy. For Beijing it offers another way to sustain its economic growth.

Kazakhstan is one of the countries on the route and it was there that Mr Xi first outlined his vision in a speech in 2013 saying, “This will be a great undertaking benefiting the people of all countries along the route.”

The world’s biggest shipping company, Maersk, told the BBC it is investigating “possible opportunities” in long-distance rail, though it sees them as supplementary to sea and air routes.

China is planning another 20 European routes for rail freight, and with the world’s demand for consumer goods continuing to grow, all the ingredients seem to be there for rail to help the global economy steam ahead in 2017 and beyond.