U-Freight, a global freight forwarding and logistics solutions provider, has added a second consolidation centre in China in order to manage the increasing volumes of LCL (Less than Container Loads) cargo being experienced on its LCL and FCL rail freight services between China and Europe.
The company started its regular service in 2014, consolidating cargo in Zhengzhou and using the daily service that operates from that railhead to and from Malaszewicze in Poland, Hamburg in Germany, and Liege in Belgium.
U-Freight said that a spike in LCL traffic, as a greater number of shippers switch from air and ocean to the overland mode, has led them to establish a consolidation hub at its logistics centre in Shanghai, which opened in 2010.
“The new consolidation centre will be included in all the services offered,” a U-Freight spokeswoman told Container News. “It just gives U-Freight an additional point of consolidation, closer to some of the customers of the service than the consolidation centre in Zhengzhou.”
The logistic centre in the largest port of the country has at least 30,000m2 of warehousing, but the consolidation of cargo for the rail service will not need a great deal of that space, according to U-Freight spokesperson.
Simon Wong, chief executive officer of the U-Freight Group believes that the company has developed a strong position in the market, as an early adopter of this routing option.
“We now handle significant consol shipments from China to Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands in particular, as well as smaller volumes to other European countries, handled by our network of long-standing agents once the shipments arrive at the three rail freight hubs on the European mainland,” he commented.
Wong explains that U-Freight chose the service from Zhengzhou as it is the only one that offers a daily frequency, although for FCL shipments the company’s Chinese presence allows them to arrange container pickup from across the country and to select a service from the rail freight gateway that is nearest to their customers.
Typical transit times from Zhengzhou to Malaszewicze are between 12 to 14 days, and 16-18 days to Hamburg, according to the logistics group.
Antonis Karamalegkos
Editor
