Davies Turner has reported that its direct, fixed-day, weekly rail import service from China to the UK, which the company has re-commenced in mid-March, has broken previously achieved record transit times.
The weekly service departs the Xi’an rail hub, directly into Duisburg in Germany. Containers are then trucked under bond to the nearby port of Rotterdam and transported by ferry to Purfleet, near Dartford for on-carriage by truck to Davies Turner’s distribution centre, where they are discharged, customs cleared and the goods delivered.
Tony Cole, head of supply chain services at Davies Turner said: “The first consolidated container that left China after we restarted our direct Express China Rail service into the UK in March arrived and was unpacked at our Dartford freight hub after just 17 days. This is a week ahead of the scheduled transit time from the Xi’an rail hub to our Dartford depot of 24 days, and beats the previous record achieved last year of 18 days. Since its start, the service has risen to two on subsequent departures, and I believe it could rise to three per week very soon in addition to full loads.”
Philip Stephenson, chairman of Davies Turner comments: “The transit time achieved by our overland rail service, at a time when the air and ocean freight modes face significant challenges has caught the attention of shippers. I believe that the impact of Covid-19 will push many shippers to rethink their supply chains, and that we could possibly see more Asia-Europe air and ocean freight traffic moving permanently to the rail freight option.”
Source: Davies Turner
