Due to strong winds and heavy snow along the road, the visibility is low and China-Europe freight trains have to slow down. At the same time, the shortage of wagons due to port congestion in destination stations lead to a large number of trains stuck in CN/KZH border. In this case, the origin station will reduce the frequency of departure and adjust the departure schedule to ease the pressure at the port. In severe cold weather, the challenges at Xinjiang ports are even greater. This week, Alashankou took 8-15 days to transload; that at Khorgos was about 7-12 days; at Manzhouli is about 6-12 days;for Erenhot is about 6-15 days.Overall, the transportation time in Europe, Central Asia, and Russia has been extended by 5-7 days.

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

European route:

WB: Chengdu operator took the lead in announcing the prices for January 2024, which are basically the same as before. Prices for other platforms have not been announced yet and are expected to fluctuate less. Space is being released at the end of this month-most of the FCL and LCL shipments in Zhengzhou are filled, with a small number of spaces available on the 28th; the space on the“Xi'an-Duisburg” Express train are in hot demand, and as of now, only a few can be reserved, while the general train has more spare space. The January plans for Yiwu, Jinhua, Jinan are being on the way.

EB: In late December, eastbound trains from Hamburg, Duisburg, Malaszewicz, Budapest and other cities to Changsha and Chongqing will have spaces available and prices will remain the same. The eastbound price in January has not yet been announced now. However,Chengdu has released its eastbound transport plan for January, adding several new loading stations.It is expected that cargo can be loaded at Maraszewicz, Lodz, Tilburg, Nuremberg, Duburg, Hamburg, Budapest, and Milan in Jan.

Russian route: 

Supply and demand are stable, and there are sufficient shipping space in late December. Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Suzhou, Changsha will have space available for booking at the end of December. In early January, platforms such as Zengcheng, Datian, Xi'an, and Shijiazhuang have announced their shipping plans. This week, the price of some routes to Russia has temporarily dropped - “Chengdu-Minsk” has been reduced by 0.45%, “Xi'an-St. Petersburg” has been reduced by 2.6%, “Wuhan-Moscow” has been reduced by 4%, and “Jinan-Moscow ”has been reduced by 2.7%.

Central Asia route: 

The supply and demand are stable, and the overall supply of space is sufficient. In late December, there are still some space left from Xi'an to Tashkent and Almaty. The December space from Zhengzhou to Tashkent has been sold out, and FCL can be booked in early January. Trains from Hefei to Almaty and Tashkent are being released.  

Article source: Cargo Talk