The maintenance of rail sections on the Kazakhstan-Russia border caused much worse problems. As a result, the congestion at the Alashankou intensified, and the reloading operation in Khorgos was also delayed. As of now, the average loading time for the two major ports took about 7-11 days, and some trains even waited for more than 2 weeks there. In addition, continuous heavy rainfall in the Zabaykalsk of Russia has destroyed a dam, affecting the rail track downstream. At present, this rail section has been closed and in rush repairs, which may have an impact on the outbound trains at the Manzhouli, where the trans loading will be extended as expected.

According to the data in the 35th week, the overall transit time of trains heading towards Europe and Russia has been extended compared to last week. For example, the normal delivery time from domestic sites to Budapest is about 22 days, while the data shows that it had been close to 30 days at last week. The T/T of other unaffected trains remains unchanged, approximately 13-14 days to Mala and 15-22 days to Moscow respectively.

The supply of spaces and freight rates for each route are as follows:

European route:

Outbound service- The supply and demand are stable, with plenty of spaces on general and slightly tightening supplies in Chengdu. The prices at terminals such as Chongqing, Yiwu, Wuhan, and Jinhua are stable this week and only a few has been adjusted with a drop of $400 for Xian to Mala and an increase of $100 for Chengdu-Lodz.

Inbound service - Due to the EU's sanctions against Russia, more goods are prohibited from transporting via Poland to Russia, the return service of China-Europe Express has been affected. In the 35th week, Polish customs strictly inspected transit goods and strengthened control measures, resulting in over 50% of return goods being detained.

Russian route: The supply and demand on the Russian lines are stable, and the supply of spaces is sufficient. Platforms such as Xi'an, Zhengzhou, and Hefei still have a large number of spaces left to be booked in early September. Starting from last week, various platforms in East and South China have slightly increased their booking prices, and the spot freight rates have also increased by about 5% accordingly. In addition, the Russian official has notified that shipment to the Seryadino station with the consignee being STS Logistika's will be restricted from August 24, 2023 to August 28, 2022, that is about 5 days in total.

Central Asia route: The Central Asians service has a relatively low volume of goods and relatively small price fluctuations. Xi'an, Zhengzhou, and Yiwu have maintained their original prices after minor adjustments in early August. In late August, only two stations made some changes - the Jinhua dropped by 2000 yuan and the Hefei cut by 1000 yuan. Industry insiders have reported that the overall inquiry is relatively low, and the market is relatively cold.

Article source: Cargo Talk