Rail-sea cargo service to slash costs

The new Taiwan-PingtanEurope rail-sea transport route will slash cargo costs between China’s Taiwan province and Europe, an official from Pingtan in Fujian province said.

Once the services on the connected routes become regular, it will cut transport costs, said Qian Peng, deputy director of the transportation and construction bureau of Pingtan, which is part of the China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone established in 2014.

The trial run of the rail-sea link took place inNovember in 2015, which saw cargo transported from Taiwan Island to Pingtan, and eventually to Hamburg in Germany.

Pingtan is applying for the normal operation of the new link after the trial run.

Sea transport between Taiwan Island and Europe takes about 32 to 45 days. Air transport takes seven days but costs at least 10 times more than via the sea route. By comparison, the sea-rail link takes only around 13 days, Qian said.

Compared with the airlines, transport costs using the combined route are cut 80 percent for heavy cargo and 30 percent for light cargo.

The main products to be transported on the route will include electronics, seafood, hardware, and consumer goods from the island.

time estimated to be needed for cargo to reach Europe through the new rail-sea link

ZHANG CHAOQUN / XINHUA A worker prepares for coking coal production at a plant in Wuhai, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.