The progressive globalisation of the market for transport creates new challenges for the railways. The major challenge is to provide for movement of freight between Europe and Asia by land over distances of over 10,000 km. On the key routes from Asia to Europe an increase in traffic of around 23% was forecast for 2011, while within Asia, a growth of 7% was anticipated. Operation of regular freight services by rail over the landbridge between China and Europe therefore moves closer and closer so the question of transport operators was no longer whether, but when.
At the end of October 2012, Russian Railways Logistics and its subsidiary YuXinOu (Chongqing) Logistics launched the first container trains between China and Europe that used the single CIM/SMGS consignment note.
The multi-client train, which consists of 42 forty-foot containers, left Chongqing (China) on October 31 for Poland and Germany.
Kaztransservice (Kazakhstan) and Belintertrans (Belarus) companies participated in this forwarding project as transit partners for Russian Railways Logistics.
Moreover, this document reduces consumer spending on freight forwarding. The client is usually charged for re-issuing of the CIM consignment note in place of SMGS note for each shipment at the border stations. The CIM/SMGS Common Consignment Note eliminates these extra payments. Development of the China-Europe corridor will lead to forwarding speed-up by up to two days (transport launched by Russian Railways Logistics and its Chinese subsidiary took 19 days) and will further expand the potential client base on this route.
Rail freight shipments between Europe, Russia and Asia also represent significant transport potential. However, just 1% of this is currently being exploited, shows data from the International Transport Committee.
Interest in rail shipments from the People’s Republic of China is also growing in Switzerland, especially for IT products or shoes and clothes. In September 2012, a Swiss retailer in cooperation with rail ser-vices provider InterRail dispatched a test container from Shanghai to Switzerland.
Such long-distance transports using the CIM/SMGS Consignment Note are growing attractive primarily for time-saving reasons and environmental considerations.
CIT data show that the common CIM/SMGS consignment note is used for more than fifty traffic flows over four TEN corridors and so covers more than half the CIM/SMGS traffic, three quarters of this traffic consists of containers, at less than 5% single wagonload traffic plays a minor role. The use of the common CIM/SMGS consignment note leads to a saving of some forty minutes per wagon or eight to ten hours in the total transit time of a train. Discontinuing the transcription of CIM and SMGS consignment notes provides a saving of some EUR 40 per consignment.
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