SHANGHAI,
CHINA - Media OutReach - 13 May 2021 - In the first half
of 2020, China was the
only country among UK's top five trading partners to achieve positive growth in bilateral goods trade, mainly due to a 17.2% increase in goods imported
by the UK from China. To cater to the growth in UK-China trade, DHL Global Forwarding has
launched a new rail-sea freight solution that will link businesses in China
with customers in the UK, and vice versa, in 18 to 20 days. Compared to ocean
freight that would typically take 40 days, the new service cuts transit time by
more than half.
Since the
start of the pandemic, rail has emerged as a popular alternative for shippers who balk at hefty air freight rates as a
result of capacity shortage, and eschew long ocean freight transit time due to
equipment and capacity shortages. Globally, the rail freight market is expected
to see a compounded annual growth rate of 9.9% in 2021.
"The UK
faced numerous trade challenges in the past year, having to navigate economic and
trade uncertainties over Brexit and during the pandemic, whilst managing new
UK-EU border regulations and processes at the dawn of the new Brexit era. As
the UK economy starts picking up and China celebrates record growth in Q1 2021, trade between the two partners would be one
to watch," said Kelvin Leung, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific.
According to the DHL Global Connectedness Index 2020, China was ranked second by its share of the
UK's international flows. In the first eight months of 2020, British exports to
China rose by 10.7%, or £837 million (€982 million), even as the UK saw its overall exports fall
by 25% for the same period. In 2019, the most sought after British goods in China were gold, petroleum and petroleum-related
products, and vehicles, while telecommunications and office equipment, and
electrical machinery and appliances were key Chinese exports that made their way to the UK.
Consolidating
goods from across China at DHL's hub at Xi'an, China, the new service will
transport the cargo by rail to Kaliningrad, Russia via Kazakhstan, Russia,
Belarus, and Lithuania, and then transferred to Immingham by sea, where the UK
import customs and final delivery of the cargo to the consignees are processed.
The service is jointly developed by DHL Global Forwarding China, Xi'an
International Inland Port Investment & Development Group Co. Ltd, RZD
Logistics and RTSB Gmbh.
Steve
Huang, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Greater China, said, "Most China-UK
multimodal routes often include Germany, Poland or the Netherlands as the
midpoint for transfer from rail freight to sea or road freight. After Brexit,
going by these routes would incur additional customs procedures and fees. The
new service will potentially avoid seasonal congestion on the EU border, which
in turn guarantees a more stable transit time."
Note to editors:
Ukraine's exports to China surged 63.3% year on year in 2019, as Sino-Ukrainian trade turnover hit a massive US$12.8 billion (€10.7 billion). Find out how DHL is supporting this growing trade partnership by establishing better rail connectivity between Europe and Asia.