Rail transport from Vietnam benefits from the 'thirst' of containers

Recently, due to the global shortage of containers, the "dizzying" increase in freight rates, causing many difficulties in the container transport market, has promoted rail transport on the China - Europe route, especially especially when the demand for goods in Southeast Asia is increasing.

Marco Reichel, APAC Regional Business Development Manager at Crane Worldwide Logistics, said the company was in "tremendous demand" for rail transport. "The number of trains departing from China is constantly increasing," Marco added.

According to a representative of Crane Worldwide Logistics, since last year, seaports have been heavily congested and delays in the transportation of goods still exist, greatly affecting the operation of ships across the country. world.

Many international market experts believe that the reduction in capacity of ocean carriers while increasing demand is unusual. Joshua Brogan, AT Kearney's vice president of strategic operations, said: "Large carriers often want revenue at all costs. They will increase capacity as demand increases, thereby increasing market share. However, the carriers seem to have no move to increase capacity, which causes demand to exceed supply, causing freight rates to skyrocket."

According to THE Alliance, delays and disruptions have become so severe that more and more trips are empty, resulting in a spike in demand for rail transport. Notably, demand is increasingly spreading to other routes in the region.

Mr. Marco Reichel informed that Crane is also transporting goods via rail from Vietnam, Japan and Korea. The airline is also making a number of requirements for routes connecting Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia.

"Usually these will be transported via short sea or by truck to China, depending on the origin. At the moment, countries are looking at all alternatives, even Australia." , he emphasized.

Another new rail line that is slowly gaining popularity is the oceanic railway through the Russian port of Vladivostok, where trains can go directly to Europe without going through any border crossings.

Currently, China does not allow dangerous goods to be transported by rail. Therefore, Vladivostok is a good choice to be able to transport items such as batteries. Another advantage of Vladivostok is that it avoids the increasing congestion of rail freight in China.

Recently, China Railway has announced a restriction on departures, at some stations, the number of cars is limited to 120 cars / day. The main reason is due to high congestion at border gates, putting pressure on customs points.