News Icon

duisport records 50 trains per week: Chinese transports reach historic level in April.

  • Further growth with more destinations in the China network.

In the last month, rail-based merchandise traffic with China reached a new record. Normally, between 35 and 40 trains travel between Duisburg and various destinations in China every week. This number had declined in February and March. But since the lock-down was lifted in some provinces, China’s economy has quickly started up again. Last month, the Port of Duisburg registered an increase to approximately 50 trains a week.

New destinations, more trains: growth of the duisport network triggers new demand.

“We are definitely noticing the catch-up effects resulting from the pandemic in the China business. But at the same time we’ve continued to work intensively on our network and in April we extended our train services to include further Chinese destinations. Our strategic cooperation with all of the relevant logistics hubs in China make rail transportation even more attractive for our customers. Currently, Duisburg is already one of the preferred destinations for Chinese rail freight transport in Europe. As a high-performance logistics hub, we also offer the market advantage of rapid onward transport to other destinations such as the sea ports on the European coasts.

It is particularly in our crisis situation that rail freight becomes an important alternative to ocean freight,” says duisport Chief Executive Officer Erich Staake.

The Port of Duisburg is considered a pioneer for rail freight between Europe and Asia. The first regular train from the Chinese mega city Chongqing to Duisburg already started in 2011. In 2014, the Yuxinou train became the first direct permanent rail connection between Germany and China. Since then, the number of freight trains traveling regularly between the People’s Republic and Duisburg has steadily increased: At this time, 30 percent of the entire rail-based trade between Europe and China runs through the Duisburg logistics hub. And of the 1,400 trains out of Chongqing that are destined for Europe, around 80 percent were handled in the Port of Duisburg last year – a number that continues to increase.

“I have to compliment my team: Our operations are running at 100 percent despite the corona crisis. We were well prepared for the increased volume of goods transported by rail. We are also holding available additional storage space and customized solutions for onward transport. Thanks to our committed staff, our network also functions in times of crisis,” says Erich Staake.

 

Please find extensive image material in our media center.