Chinese New Year aftermath; why it will be different this year
It is well known that Chinese New Year, the biggest festivity of the year in the country, creates a certain level of turbulence in the supply chain. This year however, it is coupled with an...Read more
China supplies Pakistan with 70 freight wagons after friction resolves
State-owned Pakistan Railways received 70 new freight wagons supplied by China. The state-of-the-art wagons arrived in Karachi on Monday, 16 January. This is the first batch of China-supplied wagons this year, as Pakistan Railways expect...Read more
Ease of COVID rules in China good news for New Silk Road
China has announced a nationwide ease of the strict COVID policy for the first time in three years. What does this policy shift mean for the rail freight industry? What impact have lockdowns had on...Read more
China becomes main investor in Serbia in line with BRI plans
China has emerged as the number one investor in Serbia as a result of its Belt and Road ambitions. This was revealed by Bojan Stanić, deputy director of the Strategic Analysis Sector at the Serbian...Read more
Can Turkey become China’s Eurasian game changer?
ANALYSISCloser trade relations with Turkey and its better integration within the Belt and Road Initiative seem to be in China’s immediate plans. The 3rd China-Turkey Communication Forum held on 26 September brought up some interesting...Read more
Yiwu out of lockdown, trains never stopped running
The Chinese e-commerce hub of Yiwu has opened its doors again for business after a lockdown period of more than two weeks. For rail freight this means a backlog of cargo that needs to be...Read more
Vietnam regains position on BRI with another line to China
A new rail freight service between China and Vietnam was launched this week. On Tuesday, a train departed from the Chinese hub of Xi’an in the direction of Hanoi, realising the first Vietnam railway connection...Read more
China-Europe trains reach 10,000 milestone
The number of China-Europe freight train trips in 2022 hit the 10,000 mark on Sunday, 21 August. Last year, this milestone was reached ten days later, according to the China State Railway Group. Although growth...Read more
Rethinking the New Silk Road: should we still go to Duisburg?
For many years, Germany has hosted the main European hubs on the New Silk Road. But it is time to rethink the western part of the Eurasian corridor, say industry experts, as the German network...Read more
FESCO’s success story in Vladivostok: ‘new Vietnam line is driving growth’
The port of Vladivostok has proven to be a driver for growth of FESCO’s multimodal transport, with a 19 per cent year-on-year increase this first half year. It was the transloading hub for cargo to...Read more
Belarus finds new rail routes to export goods amidst sanctions
Belarusian Railways says it has developed a total of 40 new export routes to more than 20 countries, now that sanctions have cut off its traditional routes to the global market. The Transport and Communications...Read more
G7 and EU plan a new BRI in the making?
The G7, the big leaders of the world, and the EU have pledged to raise 600 billion US dollars (634.56 billion euros) over five years to finance needed infrastructure in developing countries. In the west,...Read more
Will you join us tomorrow at the Special Edition Summit?
EVENTIn a little more than 24 hours the special edition of the RailFreight Summit kicks off. This event, hosted in Brussels on Wednesday 6 April, is organised to discuss the current challenges on the New...Read moreChina’s focus on southeast Asia: a new link to Vietnam
A new rail freight link has been launched between China and Vietnam. It connects the Chinese Silk Road hub Chongqing and the capital of Vietnam – Hanoi. The route is part of the New International...Read more
Trains on New Silk Road now with little delay on the corridor
The New Silk Road may face turbulent times at the moment, there are also positive effects of the instability on the corridor. The congestion on the New Silk Road has seen an impressive drop, with...Read more
Second departure for China-Nepal railway service soon
A second train of the China-Nepal railway service will soon be launched. The train will depart from the Chinese province of Qinghai and arrive in the autonomous region of Tibet, where it will be picked...Read more
A bypass route to Duisburg: is this the new normal?
All roads lead to Duisburg, is what these logistics companies must have thought. The Dutch logistics firm Nunner and Chinese counterpart Tiedada have established a bypass route via Turkey for cargo from China to the...Read more
COSCO launches new rail connection China-Germany
COSCO has launched a new China-Europe train, connecting Qingdao on the east coast of China with Mannheim, a German logistics hotspot in the west of the country. The first train departed from Qingdao last Friday, 18...Read moreTransit times New Silk Road back to normal, what’s the secret?
If you asked industry experts to define the New Silk Road in 2021, the key word was congestion. Two months into the new year, congestion seems to have decreased, and trains are able to make...Read more