Far East Land Bridge (FELB) has launched its less than container load (LCL) transport service from Suzhou (southeastern Jiangsu Province of East China) to Milan via Duisburg, the first LCL service from China to Italy. This route will depart every Sunday from Suzhou and make its way to Milan via FELB’s routes to Duisburg. The transit time will be 16 days to Duisburg and another 2 to 4 days to Milan.
At Melzo terminal, the cooperation of company Combimar will guarantee a smooth and professional deconsolidation, warehousing and on request distribution to all of Italy and beyond.
With the opening of this new LCL line, FELB is adding a new service line dedicated for light cargo. This new tariff system will allow companies with cargo needs to consider the LCL rail option as a more attractive option compared to past train routes. An example of this would be the fashion industry, which represents one of the most essential and important industries in Italy.
In January, FELB tested this new service with full container load (FCL) to ensure consistent transit times and smooth operations of the service. Only a few months after FELB’s initial routings to Italy last fall, this new offering will add another dimension to their new service there. With the new services in Milan and a recent FCL service there has been an overwhelmingly positive reception to FELB’s presence in Italy. FELB hopes to continue expanding in Italy and offer more destinations and services in the future. This new route can be a security improvement for Italian clients who have sensitive cargo not suitable for the long journey via sea freight. Also, this shorter time route minimizes opportunities for handling damages. FELB uses their stable and consistent route on the Trans-Siberian Railway for this service to Italy.
In addition, the railway operator Far East Land Bridge has teamed up with Euro-BRICS Consulting to transport the first ever railway shipment of Swiss dairy products to China. The products that were shipped included raclette cheese, fondue cheese, milk chocolate and prepared milk. The shipment departed from Duisburg, Germany, one of FELB’s main rail stations, and made its way via direct trains to Chongqing, China. It then made its way to Quingdao by truck transport.
According to the company, there were two main obstacles that needed to be tackled to make this shipment possible. The first was the task of keeping the dairy products cool and refrigerated during the trip. For this, 45′ reefer containers, equipped with a diesel aggregate, were used. They are specially designed containers that have a temperature maintaining system that circulates cool air from the bottom of the container. The system is designed to refrigerate when necessary as well as maintain a steady temperature. This was crucially important when dealing with the winter cold of Russia along the route used.
The second and most important obstacle that needed to be addressed was the issue of dealing with eastbound customs from Europe to Asia. “Owing to Russian sanctions on foodstuffs coming from the European Union, we had to forward documents to the Russian customs in advance to ensure no misunderstandings arise at the border with Russia and the train is not stopped. Swiss products are not subject to Russian sanctions against the EU,” says Thomas Kargl, CEO of Far East Land Bridge.
An agreement with the Russian railway system RZDL/RZD Logistics allows FELB’s containers to transit over the wide gauge sector (Russia, Belarus and Ukraine) with minimal internal stoppages and custom checks, and no diversions.
FELB offers an attractive alternative to sea freight and air freight between China, South Korea and Europe in both directions. “The company‘s unique transport product consists of a door-to-door service including the provision of containers,” Kargl said.
Company’s portfolio is constantly expanding with new routes, technology and efficient services.
In February 2016, Far East Land Bridge started one of the first own direct trains to/from Duisburg towards Brest (Belarus) within the European railway network. The new train was organised in collaboration with Duisport and Belintertrans.
In the same year, FELB launched the first train from South China to Europe and CIS, with the departing terminal being situated in Shilong (in the north part of Dongguan, China) that serves the southern regions in Asia.
In the summer of 2016, Far East Land Bridge announced the opening of a new operating office in Milan, as part of the company’s strategy to develop its railway connection between Asia and Italy, offering a reliable connection to/from Asia (China, S. Korea and Japan).
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