Almost ten years ago, under an agreement with TransContainer, Far East Land Bridge (FELB) launched the first pilot shipments (in 2007) between Europe and Asia with a transit time of 28 days. Today, FELB increased its frequency of train departures to 6 per week, from 1 per week. Thus, company’s transit time developed to 12-14 days between the two continents. And FELB considers that this can be further improved and targets an achievement of 10 – 12 days to deliver the goods from China to Europe.
Under an agreement with Russian Railways, FELB can provide much faster rail transport services, using Trans-Siberian Railway, and through its offices in China and Russia, strategically located along the whole route, the company is completing the system around the railway connections. Furthermore, import and export solutions are provided from Europe and Asia to CIS and STAN countries together with its daughter forwarding company CEL Logistic GmbH, covering a whole logistic chain on Europa – Asia axis. Starting this year, FELB has launched new freight services connecting in an efficient way the two continents. At the beginning of the year, the company started weekly transport services from Europe to Suzhou, China, using its main rail terminals of Duisburg, Milan, Hamburg, Warsaw, Malaszewicze, Regensburg and the Trans-Siberian line. This project will reduce the transit time with an 18-day journey from Milan, and 14 days from Malaszewicze. This eastbound route allows FELB to cut all transit times by 3-5 days. The key element of this service is to attract a higher volume of containers delivered to China. In collaboration with Euro-BRICS Consulting, FELB has launched 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, via direct trains to Chongqing, China. It then made its way to Quingdao by truck transport. FELB launched the first less than container load (LCL) transport service from China to Italy, linking Suzhou city (southeastern Jiangsu Province of East China) with Milan, via Duisburg, within 16 days (to Duisburg) and another 2 to 4 days to Milan. With the opening of this new LCL line, FELB is adding a new service line dedicated for light cargo. This new tariff system allows 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. Cargo transit train connecting the industrial hub of South China, Shilong, via Shenzhen, to Europe was launched this spring, allowing FELB to expand its services to new locations in South Asia. The most important option is Hong Kong, a major industry and business hub, as well as Taiwan and Vietnam. The travel time by railways takes 17 days, with weekly departures. With transit time of 14-16 days, FELB initiated a new route China-Russia, from Guangzhou to Vorsino terminal, the main freight hub of Moscow. The company is expanding its transport options for border crossings, destinations and departure terminals, including an alternate border crossing at Erlian in Mongolia. In May, the company announced that it has added a new weekly service to Europe, from Changsha terminal (China). The trains use the route from the Chinese border at Erlian into Mongolia, crossing Russia and then, to Europe. From the same destination – Changsha, China, it was launched a new connection: to Budapest. The speed of the transport service is due to the train crossing the Chinese border via the Mongolian crossing at Erlian and the Naushki border station to Russia. Then the train is running across the Trans-Siberian railway through Ukraine and the border station of Chop/Dobra down to Budapest. The Dobra border to Slovakia is the southeastern gate to Europe and creates many new options for rail travel and is an alternative route to the busy Brest border station.
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