The impact of railway maintenance in Kazakhstan is still reflected in the overall efficiency of China-Europe trains - the average handling at Alashankou is 7-14 days, and that at Khorgos is 7-11 days. According to the overseas agent, there may be a delay in this route and the local is actively coordinating and resolving the problem at present. Manzhouli is operating normally, with a reloading time of 8-10 days. That for Erenhot is 8-13 days, where the efficiency for custom clearance has been improved compared to last week.

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

European route:

As the Christmas season approaches, there is a slight upward trend in the volume of outbound shipments from Europe, with most spaces at platforms booked till mid September. There are a lot of spaces left at Xi'an this month, except for those on the express train.According to the schedule of Chengdu,  the train destined to various terminals in Europe can add one train every ten days to Nuremberg and Tilburg. Up to now, the spot freight rate here has been raised by $50-100. Yiwu plans to launch its first full-time schedule train in September, with destinations mainly in Duisburg and Madrid.

The spaces on the return trains supply normally, and platforms such as Hefei, Xi'an, Wuhan, Chongqing, Chengdu, Yiwu, and Changsha are actively soliciting goods from overseas. Among them, the trains for Wuhan gets varying surplus spaces depending on the loading points; Compared to August, the price in Changsha has dropped by $100- $300.

The impact of EU sanctions on goods returning through Mala still exists, but the official information from Polish customs is not yet clear. According to the embargo lists issued by various platforms, the restricted goods mainly involve electronic products, communication products, sensors, laser equipment, navigation equipment, avionics equipment, and others.

Russian route: The volume of goods in the Russian direction is hovering at a low level and has slightly rebounded this week. Spaces at Chengdu and Zhengzhou enjoys an advantage in booking prices and gets catchy recently with little left till the mid of Sep. While those at stations such as Chongqing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, and Hefei are still available till early Sep , with spot market freight rates dropping by 3% -5% compared to last week.

Central Asia route: Recently, the volume in the Central Asian market has decreased, and prices have fluctuated accordingly. It is reported that there has been a slight increase in prices for the overseas section to Kazakhstan, while that to the other four middle-Asian countries have decreased by $10 to $40,which has not yet been reflected in the spot freight rate yet.

Article source: Cargo Talk