ÖBB Rail Cargo Group (RCG) has announced that at the beginning of 2023 will establish Rail Cargo International Freight Forwarding in China – the RCG company in Shanghai as part of its plans to strengthen its market position in Eurasia. Direct marketing of in-house logistics services in China is now possible for RCG for the first time with its full local presence.
“The new RCG company in Shanghai strengthens our distribution activities whilst reducing dependence on external partners in China. This is of paramount importance as business in China is almost solely concluded on site. Furthermore, we also want to build on our successful development along the New Silk Road by pushing for routes via the Middle Corridor,” RCG Spokesman of the Board, Clemens Först said.
With RCG company in Shanghai, ÖBB Rail Cargo Group can now provide all services in the logistics value chain, along with additional freight forwarding add-ons in Asia, from trucking to customs clearance, transshipment etc., from a single, in-house source. Amongst other things, this simplifies access to customers, local partners, and payment transactions.
The RCG network (TransNET) now expands across the entire Eurasian continent as far as China. The North Corridor, from China via Russia to Central and Southeastern Europe, was used for transport along the New Silk Road until the Ukraine war broke out. The Middle Corridor has been used by the ÖBB Rail Cargo Group as an alternative since March 2022, which runs through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan/Georgia and across the Black Sea to Romania, before continuing on to Central and Southeastern Europe. RCG can offer a reliable alternative to sea and air freight with attractive transit times. It also makes it possible for customers to bypass the loading and unloading ports, which are still heavily congested.
Rail freight services have increased steadily since RCG activities began with the first test train in 2008. By the end of 2016, the number of departures along the Silk Road was gradually increased, and in 2017 RCG officially entered the Chinese market. RCG runs around 600 locomotives along the routes of the New Silk Road annually.
Photo: ÖBB RCG David Payr
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