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DACHSER keeps moving rail freight via the middle corridor

Despite the Russia-Ukraine conflict, DACHSER keeps connecting China and Europe by its railway services via an alternative route – the middle corridor. Since the end of May 2022, the logistics provider has been organizing a train connection on the Xi’an-Budapest route with at least one departure per week.

Since the end of May 2022, the logistics provider has been organizing a train connection on the Xi’an-Budapest route with at least one departure per week.

Due to the military event in Ukraine, DACHSER had discontinued the rail services it used to offer on two train routes, the north and west corridors, since early March.

“We take into consideration about customers’ concerns from the perspective of transportation security as well as economic sanctions laws and regulations upon the shipment via Russia and Belarus. We hereby promote this service to eliminate such doubts and to maintain customers’ supply chain operations,” said Brian Jiang, Department Head Railway Services China at DACHSER.

In order to respond to customers’ demands, the logistics provider has been offering a rail connection through Central Asia, along the Middle Corridor: starting in China, the train first arrives at Aktau in Kazakhstan, then cross the Caspian Sea to Baku, Azerbaijan, after that the train overgoes Azerbaijan and Georgia. When reaching Batumi, Georgia, the containers will be reloaded and cross the Black Sea by ship to Constanța, Romania, before finally arriving in Budapest, Hungary. From there, the containers are transported by connecting trains to further hinterland terminals such as Krems, Małaszewicze, Duisburg and more destinations. From the originating terminal in China to the destination terminal, the trains normally take 45 to 55 days.

Reliable alternative

“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,” says Vedat Serbet, Rail Services Manager EMEA at DACHSER. Especially in these challenging times, with companies still struggling with capacity bottlenecks, transport by rail is an additional alternative to sea and air freight.

From Xi’an in China, trains run once a week to Europe. All containers are equipped with smart sensors with LBS (Location-based service) and temperature monitoring on a 24/7 basis from origins to destinations.

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Contact Katrine Cheng
katrine.cheng@dachser.com

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06/22/2022
Air freight market update | June 2022

DACHSER has extended its charter program on the route between Shanghai and Frankfurt. A clear signal of reliability and stability in times of continuing challenges on the global trade markets.

  • Current Situation

Demand for air cargo softened in March and April due to ongoing supply chain disruptions and global inflation. China’s zero-covid strategy with massive lockdowns in Shanghai and other Chinese cities, as well as  the continuing conflict between Ukraine and Russia led to limited flight capacities, supply bottlenecks, and a rapid increase in fuel and energy prices. In 2022, jet fuel prices increased by more than 70%.
 
It is a challenging operating environment for all businesses. But with the easing of restrictions in China on June 1, it will now become even more difficult. It is expected that demand for cargo capacity will increase in the coming months.
 
Therefore, DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics has already extended its charter program on the route between Shanghai and Frankfurt to cover the period from May 2022 to April 2024. Thus, DACHSER is able to continue offering its customers reliable transport capacities. Two days a week, DACHSER flies between Asia and Europe with a wide-bodied aircraft, transporting 33 tons each way.

With this premium service, DACHSER can respond to market capacity changes at short notice and ensure its own stable air freight network.
 

  • China

On Wednesday, June 1, 2022, Shanghai lifted the restrictions on COVID-19 after a two-month lockdown. However, the city is still far away from normal:
 
·         Residents from COVID-19 low-risk areas are free to move within the city.

·         Resumption of public transport.

·         A number of businesses and retailers are still closed and will gradually reopen.

·         Factories and production sites located in COVID-19 low-risk areas are gradually resuming 
          to normal over the next few weeks.

·         Transport logistics services are also resuming to their normal capacity step by step 
          as the restrictions on roads, workers, and drivers are lifted.
 
During the lockdown period, DACHSER’s consolidation warehouse at Shanghai PVG Airport Cargo City was closed. As of June 1, 2022, the warehouse is operating again and the transitional warehouse outside of the Cargo City has been decommissioned again.

  • DACHSER Air network

The flexible and constant structure of the DACHSER Air network, in combination with the worldwide DACHSER gateway locations, serves all requirements of global supply chains.
 
The weekly network capacities from Asia (Hong Kong & Shanghai) to Europe and between Europe and the USA (rotation) are an integral part of DACHSER's air freight portfolio. If necessary, additional capacities are booked at short notice. 

  • Supply & Demand Indices and Oil Development

Please click the button below to read the latest Indexes on Supply & Demand and Oil Development.

We are looking forward supporting you in stabilizing your supply chain and are at your disposal for an individual consultation. Please do not hesitate to contact your local DACHSER representative.

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DACHSER acquires food logistics provider Brummer

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04/28/2021
COVID-19 update: Impact on DACHSER’s operations in India

Due to the outbreak of second wave of Coronavirus, we would like to give you an update about the impact on DACHSER’s operations in India. The situation as of today, April 28, 2021, is as follow:

DACHSER branches in India

  • Most branch offices across India are being kept closed as a precautionary measure due to the sudden rise of COVID cases. Our teams are working from home, with only skeletal staff at the offices and hence there are likely to be delays in responses due to the ongoing crisis.
  • As a consequence of the lockdown, there are some operational impacts for air, sea, customs clearance and domestic trucking.

Air freight

  • Most countries have barred passenger traffic from India leading to no passenger carrying flights operating on International routes from/to India.
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  • Rates are bound to inch upwards for all sectors.
  • Transit times too have increased as a consequence of capacity crunch.

Sea freight

  • Sea freight was already facing the challenges due to the Suez Canal blockage end of March.
  • Ports and terminals are functioning normally, but vessel schedules are impacted on account of the Suez Canal blockage as well as the sudden rise of COVID cases in India.
  • Delays, roll overs are expected. Customers are advised to factor in delays of 1-2 weeks while planning their inventories.
  • Expect more delays in communication or operations due to increasing COVID infections among staff at ports, customs, CFS and shipping lines.

Customs

  • We do not have any unexpected disruptions in cargo movement in India, nor is any work stoppage expected at present.
  • Customs clearance activities are functional at the movement.
  • Customs is working with less manpower, no Customs Brokers is allowed to meet the customs officials, all processes is done faceless and things are moving in slow phase.

At DACHSER, we have undertaken significant measures to ensure our employees’ health and safety, at the same time continue to manage our day-to-day operations with minimal impact to our customers’ supply chains. Our teams are working diligently by all possible means in these testing times to assist and to overcome the challenges being faced.

Please rest assured that we will keep you updated of any changes to the current situation. hould you have any concerns and/or queries, please feel free to contact your local DACHSER representative in the region.

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03/03/2022
Russia – Ukraine conflict: Impact on DACHSER’s global air & sea freight operations

We would like to inform you about the impact of the Russia – Ukraine conflict on international air freight, sea freight and rail operations. Moreover, we would like to share with you which measures we had to take to safeguard supply chains as much as this is possible.

We are suspending any bookings from or to the Ukraine until further notice. Furthermore, we can no longer accept bookings on our rail services between Asia and Europe. The same booking stop applies to intercontinental trucking between Asia and Europe whenever such shipments would be transiting Russia, Belarus or Ukraine. The reason for these measures is that we can no longer guarantee the safe transit of our customers cargo via the aforementioned countries.

We still accept bookings originating from or destined to Russia and Belarus provided that airlines and shipping lines continue to provide capacities on these routes. We are observing first carriers and airlines suspending their activities related to transportation to/from these countries. Needless to say, that bookings to/from Russia and Belarus have to be fully compliant with the most recent governmental sanctions imposed on these countries.

Besides these specific measures we do expect additional implications on our operations. The conflict region respectively the countries involved in the conflict have great significance in the international oil and energy markets. This is already causing some very dynamic developments of oil prices and therefore oil related surcharges such as BAF and fuel surcharges. We will closely monitor further developments and keep you informed. Furthermore, we are already seeing what could be the onset of a capacity crunch in the airfreight market, as European airlines are banned from Russian airspace and Russian airlines are banned from European airspace.

As of now, it is not foreseeable how long this situation will last or how the situation will develop. We will continue to make every effort to provide solutions for our customers and keep you abreast of future developments to ensure the continuation of your international supply chains.

Our teams worldwide will be in touch with you but please do not hesitate to reach out to your DACHSER contact person to evaluate your particular situation and to discuss further arrangements for your air freight, sea freight & rail shipments.

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