BERLIN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- UPS will significantly expand its transport services on a 10,000 km railway line connecting the German city of Duisburg with the Chinese city of Chongqing, the U.S. logistics company announced on Friday.
The company wants to make the route more accessible to its corporate customers by handling all related customs formalities and offering an additional ongoing connection to Hong Kong.
UPS said, transportation with China Railway Express along the "Belt and Road" is slower than air cargo but much cheaper. The company promised cost savings of up to 60 percent compared to air transportation.
UPS also pointed out, sea freight remains the cheapest in the logistics industry, but it requires 40 days to reach China. In contrast, the German National Railway Company's cargo unit (DB Schenker) has managed to lower travel time for the "Yuxinou" cargo trains from 18 to 12 days since it began with operations on the Duisburg-Chongqing link back in 2011.
DB Schenker has recorded a steady increase in demand for its services to Chongqing since 2011. Amongst others, the Munich-based carmaker BMW now transports its 1-series vehicles from Leipzig to China via train and recently signed a contract to extend the cooperation.
According data from German railway company Deutsche Bahn, 30,000 containers were transported between Duisburg and Chongqing in 2015. And the number is anticipated to rise to at least 100,000 by 2020 as the closer economic integration of Europe and Asia progresses.
