Rail-Air Connection for Chinese trade to Europe via Kazakhstan is a success story
Astana, Kazakhstan: China is sending goods to Europe via Rail-Air Connection provided by Kazakhstan that is covering a distance of 9,900 kilometres in just seven days.
This was statement by President of KTZ Express Sanzhar Yelubayev while giving an interview to Kazakh media.
Sanzhar Yelubayev was of the view that Rail-Air was a unique decision on cargo transportation and this was the first multimodal transportation pilot project to bring goods from China by railway to Almaty airport and then by air to Europe.
He said that Kazakhstan was implemented a successful transfer of electronic equipment from China to Europe, a distance of 9,900 kilometres, in just seven days!
“Previously, air and road transport were used to implement such schemes. There are also ocean-air connections; for example, when goods are sent to Dubai by sea and then to Frankfurt by plane. For the first time, we found a solution using a regular container route from Chongqing to Duisburg as a component. The pilot project is carried out in a single customs-transit regime, which was approved by the airport, the Customs Committee and our company. This is necessary in order to avoid customs clearance operations while taking the rail cars with cargo to the airport”; he added.
When was asked to explain the process of the operations, he said that cargo started in Chongqing, where one special 45-foot container maintaining a certain temperature was connected to the train. At the Dostyk border station, the railcar was disconnected and sent to Almaty. There it was unloaded at the temporary storage warehouse and afterward sent by cargo flights to Amsterdam.
It may be mentioned that this pilot project is ensuring good transport to Europe in six days, which is a good indicator. For example, air delivery would have cost about $50,000; rail transportation takes 14 days and costs $10,000. Rail-Air costs about $30,000.
Rail-Air includes reorientation and a good alternative to air transportation in terms of reducing the price and introducing an important option for cargo that needs to quickly get to the market.
“I believe this approach is the perfect solution for freighters who are interested in the prompt arrival of goods to the market. We are the first to work out such a scheme with the railway, customs, airport and airline. No doubt, it is quite troublesome in terms of documentation and technology development. The cargo is assembled in refrigerators in Chongqing. Our representative in Chongqing observes the process. At the Dostyk station we load the container, which is kept closed until it reaches the final consumer. This is one of the advantages of the scheme”, said Sanzhar Yelubayev.
