China/UK first train freight service: cuts by half the time of the sea link

Thursday, January 5th 2017 - 10:29 UTC

Full article 4 comments

China launched its first freight service to the United Kingdom on New Year's day, according to the China Railway Corporation. The service runs from the Chinese city of Yiwu, in the country's eastern Zhejiang province, to Barking in London. The journey lasts for an average of 18 days and more than 12,000 kilometers, according to a Chinese government website. Read full article

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Fidel_CasTroll
The EU should place a transit-tax on it lol
Jan 05th, 2017 - 10:42 am - Link - Report abuse +1
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golfcronie
Won't be much left after travelling through all those countries.
Jan 05th, 2017 - 10:57 am - Link - Report abuse +1
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ChrisR
Taking containers by sea, especially for heavy loaded containers, costs peanuts compared with rail freight.

The new container ships are very economical to operate and offer choices to transport companies that the rail system cannot cope with.

The only real risk is one of storm damage when some containers are lost overboard and this is so rare when compared to the sheer numbers carried each year that insurance cover is readily available and cheap. Even the largest and heaviest trains as seen in America cannot even begin to compete for overall volume and weight efficiencies.

Perhaps the only merit this venture may have is the shorter travel time but that is only marginal, one unplanned holdup could easily remove that.

You have to experience the container movement system to appreciate how good it is to realise that this venture will never compete on scale with the present options.
Jan 05th, 2017 - 06:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Briton
Apparently the HS2 will be diverted to China instead of going north..lol
Jan 06th, 2017 - 08:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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