New regular train Zhengzhou - Munich More News

Transcription

1 InterRail NO / 2017 New regular train Zhengzhou - Munich More News

2 Dear Reader: The 26th General Assembly of CCTT as well as the DVZ Silk Road conference demonstrate one thing very clearly: numerous measures need to be taken so one can benefi t from the New Silk Road also in future. Generally, we need better coordination between China and Europe, which means between the terminal platforms in China for a better balanced distribution of trains across all of Europe, but also between the platforms and the operators, many of whom are European. On the other hand, there are diverse, partly massive structural shortcomings in Europe that need to be remedied urgently. Read more on this in the GETO résumé on the CCTT general assembly on Page 7. Contents New regular train connection 3 More News 4 News from GETO 7 In this issue, we also report on our new regular train service from and to Munich, and some more topics, too. Enjoy reading! Hans Reinhard Chairman of the Board InterRail Holding AG IMPRINT InterRail Holding AG, Winkelriedstr. 19, 9000 St. Gallen / Switzerland Telefon: , Telefax: info@interrail.ag, Source Cover image Shutterstock

3 NEWS FROM THE INTERRAIL GROUP New regular train Zhengzhou - Munich On August 21, our fi rst train left Zhengzhou; it arrived on time at Munich s Riem terminal on September 6. The train now runs once a week; arrival at Munich and departure from Munich is on Wednesdays. Here s an overview of the train connections offered by InterRail: InterRail trains: Wuhan Gorzow Wuhan Pardubice Yiwu Budapest Yiwu Yiwu Duisburg Yiwu Yiwu Madrid Yiwu Yiwu London Yiwu Yiwu Riga Yiwu Hairaton Yiwu Tehran Xuzhou Tashkent Xi an Hamburg / Duisburg Xi an Budapest Zhengzhou - Munich - Zhengzhou 3

4 NEWS FROM THE INTERRAIL GROUP DVZ expert conference on the Silk Road InterRail also participated in the DVZ trade conference The New Silk Road the next big thing in logistics held in Dusseldorf on October 12. In a panel discussion, Hendrik Wehlen, General Manager Sales & Operations at InterRail Europe GmbH, had the opportunity to outline the experiences from the InterRail perspective. The experts at the conference all agreed that there is a noticeable hype around the Silk Road and that more and more investors are taking the opportunity to establish themselves along the New Silk Road. Yet all in all, the China trains are still seen mainly as a complementary product, since the volume transported via rail is and will remain limited, especially in comparison to ocean freight. Moreover, the subsidies currently granted by the Belt and Road Initiative will end sooner or later. As InterRail sees it, the following solutions have to be aimed for in order to be able to benefit also in future from the New Silk Road: Reduction of production costs so trains depend less on subventions. Here, the state-owned railways could help by keeping production costs for routes and rolling stock low, by limiting bureaucracy and by setting clear priorities. Kazakhstan and Russia seem to take this seriously. Reducing the imbalance of freight volumes (lack of eastgoing freight Europe-China as compared to westbound traffics China-Europe) remains challenging. An improvement of this imbalance would reduce freight costs. To this aim, more investment is needed in the trade and transport logistics sector. Fixed schedules in both directions, which necessitates, especially in China, a certain degree of coordination between the platform operators. The transit time hub China European hub has to be limited to ten days maximum. This seems to be the prerequisite the market demands (and it is technically feasible), so shippers rely on rail freight along the trans-continental corridors in the long term. With a transit time of 13 to 14 days between Yiwu and Duisburg, to give an example, we are already qui near this aim; but further transit time reduction is a big challenge. For the transport of liquid food products (i.e. also beverages) and solid food products that are transported especially in the important eastbound traffic, we have to come up with solutions: we have to develop concepts for the use of refrigerated containers that are based on a roundtrip system to keep costs low. There are already possible approaches between the electronics industry that uses temperature-controlled containers in winter for their sensitive goods, and the food industry the forwarder / logistician can play an important role here and act as a liaison. It also seems to be important that the end users are supported in adapting their in-house logistics. Many in-house logistics concepts are still strongly aligned to former ocean and air freight transit times. New software solutions up to the digitalized booking process and the electronic train that has been postulated for a long time already, i.e. the transmission of the transport documents in electronic form. The latter requires close cooperation between the state-owned railways and the customs authorities. It still is a long way to go. Photo: DVZ/Daniel Koebe 4

5 NEWS FROM THE INTERRAIL GROUP Upcoming event Intermodal Europe: November 28-30, Amsterdam 5 QUESTIONS We asked Lalita Kataria some personal questions: Lalita Kataria (39) With InterRail India since 2013 Business Development Manager I consider a working day successful when...leading the team collectively and keeping the balance and healthy relationship between the team members, if the team performs collectively I consider my day successful. What impresses me most about my job overseas networking and connecting with local offices and promoting the specialized service to CIS which is makes us stand out from the crowd. If I were not working in the transport and logistics business, I would like to be a public relations offi cer or fi tness/yoga instructor or a dancer. If I could go on a trip around the world, these would be my destinations......my list of destinations is long. It s not one place... I would love to travel to all the unexplored places around the world. I have always wanted to. go scuba diving, or car racing; and next year, I would like to watch the FIFA World Cup in RUSSIA live with our colleagues. 5

6 MORE NEWS UIC Silk Road Study In late September, UIC, the international union of railroads ( org) published a study that examines the development of Eurasian corridors and their connection to the European rail freight corridors. InterRail was interviewed for the study. The study gives an overview of the traffic volumes, the market players, the infrastructure and the performance of the rail routes, with a forecast of their development and potential until 2027; it assesses the most important success factors, highlights obstacles and offers recommendations. According to this paper, by 2027, about 670,000 TEUs could be transported along the New Silk Road, whereby the southern routes via Iran and Turkey with the connection to India and Pakistan are not even factored in. Currently, the volume of the China- Europe traffic amounts to 145,000 TEUs, the study says. In 2015, the volume was at circa 60,000 TEUs. For a summary of the results, go to NEWS FROM THE RAILWAY MARKET Kazakhstan chooses Latvia for goods in the Baltics According to the media, Kazakhstan has chosen Latvia for its freight and logistics hub in the Baltics, as per an agreement on September 29, between Askar Mamin, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, and Edvins Berzins, Managing Director of the national railway company Latvijas Dzelzcels. Latvia was also invited by Kazakhstan to participate in the development of Khorgos Dry Port at the Kazakh-Chinese border. During Askar Mamin s visit, LDz CEO Berzins and Sanzhar Yelyubayev, Vice President of the Kazakh Railway (Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, KTZ), signed a memorandum on the cooperation in the development of transit routes. The memorandum includes also working on a logistics center at Khorgos Dry Port. Both parties will contribute their part to guarantee the transport of container shipments from China to Riga and the cooperation on freight handling at Khorgos. Confirming the successful cooperation, the first container train left Urumqi, China, for Riga in early October. From Riga, the cargo is transported to Rotterdam by vessel. (source: The Baltic Course) 6

7 MORE NEWS 26th CCTT General Assembly in China GETO s résumé Basically, we need better coordination between China and Europa between the departure platforms in China for a more balanced distribution of trains across all of Europe, but also between the platforms and the operators, most of whom actually come from Europe. Moreover, there are diverse, and partly massive, structural inadequacies in Europe that have to be remedied urgently. We need additional railway lines, more locomotives and wagons, and additional locomotive drivers, was the call for action of Hans Reinhard, President of the Group of European TransEurasia Operators and Forwarders (GETO) and Vice Chairman of the International Coordinating Council on Transsiberian Transportation (CCTT) at the 26th general assembly of CCTT. The plenary session took place in Beijing, China, on September 20/21, at the invitation of China Railway Container Transport Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the China Railway Corporation. More than 240 delegates from 24 countries attended the meeting. Among them representatives of all the railway companies involved in the corridor, of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, of the Federal Customs Service and the Federal Tariff Service of the RF, representatives of international associations like the European GETO, Japanese TSIOAJ, of CIT, UIC and FI- ATA, as well as numerous representatives of leading transport and logistics companies. In his speech, Reinhard also analyzed the market situation of the container block trains China-Europe, and their prospects for the future. On an overall basis, in the past twelve months, a further, enormous increase in railway connections between China and Europe was registered. Owing to big investments, many new routes are being developed, old ones are revived. The GETO members however agree that measures to increase the attractiveness of these traffics need to be intensified, as the current growth rates are mostly due to subsidiaries from the Silk Road Fund. For GETO, taking steps to guarantee the train services offered in the long term is therefore indispensable. The necessary steps include a further reduction in tariffs for railway lines, wagons and containers so the current price level, supported by subventions, can be maintained also in future. The GETO members moreover think it necessary to offer synchronized departures that follow a fixed schedule, to enforce a further reduction of transit times, and to create end-to-end IT structures for a smoother handling as well as attractive models for the return of containers. This means that all companies involved in rail traffic, that is: practically all organizations participating in the CCTT meeting, but most especially the state run railway companies, have to provide lower tariffs, shorter transit times, and increased quality transparency. Intensified coordination between platforms as well as between operators is essential to improve the utilization of trains, especially along the CIS railway network with its bigger train units, but also for a more balanced distribution of the trains across all of Europe. In my opinion, Yiwu has done unique pioneering work in this respect with destinations in Europe that have met with enormously positive acceptance in the market, like for instance Madrid, or more recently, London, Hans Reinhard said. For GETO, another measure to reduce costs and thus strengthen competitiveness is the installation of so called hub systems at the CIS border entry and exit stations. This would allow bundling train traffics and guarantee a better utilization of the wide gauge railway tracks, as Europe and China have different regulations concerning the maximum length of trains. 7

8 MORE NEWS CCTT Meeting in Beijing 8