New multimodal route from China to Europe via port of Bronka
A new multimodal route on from China to Europe via the Russian port of Bronka will be launched in the first quarter of 2019. It combines rail transportation with vessel delivery. The route is developed by RZD Logistics, subsidiary of Russian Railways, to carry containers from China to the Northern European countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany as well as the Netherlands and Belgium.
The new route will run from China to Bronka, part of the Saint Petersburg agglomeration, through Mongolia and Russia by rail. After delivery of the cargo to the port, containers will be transloaded onto vessels and supplied to the main harbours of Northern and Western Europe, including Hamburg, Oslo, Helsinki, Rotterdam and Antwerp.
Journey details
The travel time should not exceed sixteen days. The Port of Bronka has a capacity of 500 thousand TEUs per year and is equipped to handle refrigerated containers.
“We have begun to work on this route and actively marketed the new service since April, when we signed a cooperation agreement with the port of Bronka. Since then, we have developed the details of the new service. Today, RZD Logistics is ready to launch transportation; we expect the first freight will run on the route in the first quarter of 2019”, the company’s CEO Viacheslav Valentik said during a meeting with Chinese companies.
Route stakeholders
“We enlisted the support of European operators,” the chairman of RZD Logistics noted. According to him, DB Cargo and the Finnish VR Group expressed interest in taking part in the project. October Railway, a regional branch of Russian Railways in the northwestern areas of Russia, also confirmed to be a stakeholder of the route.
The starting point in China is still unknown. “We conducted a lot of meetings with Chinese partners”, Viacheslav Valentik added. According to him, RZD Logistics negotiated with companies from Chengdu, Wuhan, Changsha, Changchun, Shandong and others. Therefore these cities may become a departure point for future container services.
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