First eastbound container train links Slovakia and China
Slovakia has set a new milestone in developing the intermodal services within the New Silk Road. The first eastbound container train departed from Dunajská Streda, near Bratislava, to the Chinese city of Xi’an. After the 10,000-kilometre-long journey, it will deliver infant water to be distributed across China.
The first rail shipment from Slovakia to China consists of 984 pallets. They were loaded with almost 736 tonnes of Zlatíčko infant water, which was bottled by Budiš, the Slovak largest producer of mineral water. Earlier, it sent its products by sea, now the company is planning to focus on the rail freight supply chain. The estimated delivery time of the Dunajská Streda –Xi’an connection is around 25 days.
Combined route
On its way to China, the container train will cover the distance of around 10,000 kilometres by crossing Poland, Belarus and Russia. The returning route is quite different as the train will run via Ukraine instead of Belarus and Poland. Metrans and GEFCO, which arranged the intermodal service, chose such a combined route due to the congestions on the Brest/Małaszewicze railways border crossing. In China, the Slovak infant water will be sold to the local customers by Tianju Group, the distribution company that is active in five Chinese provinces.
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