Dachser shifts its China-Europe intermodal link from Eurasian Land Bridge to Middle Corridor
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022 forced many shippers and freight forwarders to change their intermodal connections between China and Europe. Dachser, the German logistics specialist, is one of them. In early July 2022, it shifted its container train from the conventional route via Russia and Belarus to the Middle Corridor via Central Asia.
Due to Russia’s military hostilities in Ukraine, Dachser cancelled its two China-Europe rail freight connections. The key reason is the economic sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia and Belarus. This made the conventional route of the New Silk Road, also known as the Eurasian Land Bridge, unfavourable for European customers. At the same time, the German logistics provider arranged a new container train route between China and Hungary that runs via the Middle Corridor.
The company’s trains depart from the Chinese city of Xi’an twice a week. On their way to Budapest, they cross Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Romania by rail, as well as the Caspian and Black Seas by ferries. The containers are moved by rail from Budapest to further hinterland terminals such as Vienna in Austria, Munich or Ludwigshafen in Germany. The entire travel time on the Xi’an-Budapest route takes between 45 and 55 days. “With this route, we can replace the rail connections along the New Silk Road through Russia and Belarus and continue to offer our customers a reliable, environmentally friendly multimodal service,” noted Vedat Serbet, Dachser’s rail services manager for the EMEA region.