Stuttgart home to new DHL China Rail Centre
DHL Global Forwarding has chosen Stuttgart as the location for a new China Rail Competence Centre to help coordinate the fast-growing demand for rail freight services between Germany and Asia. The logistic giant’s German-based China Rail team has been expanded both in terms of freight handling and customer service.
It is designed primarily to support domestic customers in the automotive, technology, mechanical engineering and retail sectors, providing multi-modal transport solutions and coordinating end-to-end transport processes. This includes collection, export and transit formalities, right through to customs clearance in the land of arrival and delivery by truck or combined rail transport.
Transparent tracking
State-of-the-art track and trace systems enable transparent shipment tracking, including temperature information if required. The team is also developing tailored security concepts specifically for very high quality goods.
DHL Global Forwarding currently offers 15 rail connections, spanning seven door-to-door rail transports per week, between Germany and the Far East. The trains follow the course of the trans-Kazakh western corridor and the trans-Siberian northern corridor, utilising a dense network of rail hubs in all the major economic centres of China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
Choice
Customers can choose from DHL Railconnect products for less than container load (LCL) shipments, full container load (FCL) shipment products from DHL Railline and temperature-controlled rail services. Pre-carriage and onward carriage is offered by truck or combined rail transport based on the urgency of the respective shipment.
Volker Oesau, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Germany and Central Europe, said: “Rail freight volumes between Germany and Asia have increased 10-fold in just one year. In order to meet ever-increasing demand, the onus is on us to grow, optimize processes and create synergies. It is for this very reason that we decided to establish a central China Rail Competence Centre.”
Waybill
“Both the re-gauging of wagons necessitated by different track sizes and transit handling at all border crossings is perfectly timed and runs seamlessly,” added Oesau. “The introduction of the standardized CIM/SMGS waybill has simplified rail transport procedure and minimised the administrative effort entailed at border crossing points.”
This document is recognised by customs authorities and enables the faster clearance of goods transports as part of a simplified rail transport procedure. The waybill can be used for both wagon load traffic and combined transport, and dispenses with the transcription of documents at border crossings between two legal jurisdictions.
