In the 13th week, the transshipment time of the four major ports of China-Europe freight trains fluctuated a little. The average handling time of Khorgos was 3-5 days, that of Alashankou was 2-3 days, and of Erenhot was 7-10 days. In late March, as the number of customized trains at several terminals increased and the number of public trains dropped, the delays at the departure station improved. The waiting time at stations in Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Hefei, Zengcheng, Datian gradually decreased. However, at Suzhou, Yiwu, and other stations in east China, it is recommended that you should collect goods 2-3 weeks in advance . Overall, the transit time along the European route has reduced - taking Xi'an as an example, it takes 15 days to arrive in Budapest and 18 days to arrive in Duisburg. In the direction of the Russian route, the "Wuhan-Moscow" and "Nansha-Moscow" routes performed brilliantly this week, taking an average of 12.5 days;the "Chongqing/Chengdu-Moscow"  service takes about 16-22 days.

In April, spaces on the European-bound trains gets hot. Spaces on trains from Yiwu shall be released after April 10th, while those on trains from Chengdu will be released till mid April. The spaces in Xi'an "Express Train" will be opened in late April, and it is expected that the price of major platforms will not change significantly. In the direction of the Russian line, the market is seriously inward bound, and the position supply exceeds demand. A freight forwarder said that most peers have been actively filling spaces recently, and the spot freight rates for each route have fallen by about 5%. At the same time, spaces on trains to Central Asia are in urgent need . It is said that Chongqing will open the public rail services to Central Asia in April, and it is expected to operate once every two weeks.

Article source: Cargo Talk