In the 47th week,freight trains still suffered heavy rain, snow, and wind on the road,especially at the border. Now, Alashankou and Khorgos keep efficiency with the average handling time from 5 to 8 days which is 2-3 days longer than before. Reloading at Erenhot and Manzhouli can be done around 7-16 days. We don’t see much changes in these two ports in week 47.However,there will be a new wave of cold cooling along the eastern route of China-Europe freight trains in the next few weeks,said weather forecasts.

In general, rail transport in the European direction runs well even the weather effected, with trains dispatched from domestic terminals arriving in Mala in 12-15 days and Duisburg/Hamburg in 19-21 days. The transit time is similar with last week. As to the Russian-bound routes, trains arrived at terminals of Moscow in 18-23 days.And the longest recorded time from South China to Elektrougli has been extended to 30 days.The overall transit time is longer than before, especially for trains leaving through Manzhouli and Erenhot ports, and the entire operation time for most of the trains is more than 20 days.

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

European route:

WB: The booking prices for operation platforms such as Chengdu, Chongqing, and Zhengzhou in December have been released, and they are basically the same as those in November. Spot rate in Xi'an and Jinan will be announced after the 20th and are expected to remain stable. Yiwu COC booking price has not yet been determined as container rental prices changed dramatically. Generally speaking, the freight rates announced by the Chengdu are 10%-15% lower than average. In December, there is sufficient space for the outbound journey to Europe, and operator and agents are stepping up their efforts to collect goods.

EB: In December, the freight rates to China ushered in a wave of refreshes. Trains back to Chengdu and Chongqing don’t changed rate from November; to Changsha is stable in early December and has not yet been determined in the middle and late December.

The spot rate of "Duisburg/Mala-Yiwu "has been increased by $400/HQ; That of  "Milan/Verona-Zhengzhou" has increased by $500/HQ, of "Liège/Munich-Zhengzhou" has increased by $300/HQ, and of "Hamburg-Zhengzhou" has increased by $600/HQ. All space on trains destined for Wuhan and Xi'an in November have been sold out.

Russian route: 

Market demand changes slowly, and overall supply are stable. Some operational plans have been reduced and capacity has been tightened. "Spot rate in December will be significantly increased", industry insiders say last week. Currently, only "Shenyang-Manzhouli-Moscow" routes have been slightly adjusted, but other platforms have not yet followed up. It must mention that the market reaction is relatively sensitive, and many agents said freight rates have been increased by nearly 5%-8%.

Central Asia route: 

The demand in the Central Asian market is stable. In early December, space in Xi'an and Zhengzhou has been put up for sale online, and the space price is the same as in November.The supply of space in Central Asia has tightened. In December, the freight trains from Zhengzhou to Tashkent were fully booked for LCL, and there was a small amount of space after the middle month for FCL. Xi'an's public trains will be released until late December and early January. The space can not be found before December 20. After that, there will be a small number of space to Almaty, Baku, Khorgos, and Alashankou.  

Article source: Cargo Talk