Press Release

Nippon Express Launches Door-to-Door Transport Service between China and Europe

New service substantially cuts lead time and transport costs; available from major cities throughout China through connections with "Lintan Tokkai"

Nippon Express (China) Co., Ltd. (Tatsuo Sugiyama, Chairman) and Nippon Express Europe GmbH (Yuji Obuchi, President), both subsidiaries of Nippon Express Co., Ltd., will launch a cross-border rail transport service connecting China and Europe on November 16.

Door-to-door transport will be provided to cities across China and Europe, with rail transport starting at Wuhan, Chongqing and Harbin in China, and at Duisburg and Hamburg in Europe, and cargo will be delivered by the Nippon Express Group from terminal stations to designated recipients in accordance with customer wishes.

Features of this service

  • Using Wuhan and Chongqing as departure stations in the southwest and Harbin as the departure station in the northeast will provide coverage for almost all the major regions of China in which manufacturing companies have set up operations.
  • Nippon Express' "Lintan Tokkai" trunk line transport service will allow connection to this service from 48 cities throughout China.
  • Nippon Express' trucking network also covers 55 major cities throughout Europe, including the UK and Central/Eastern Europe.
  • The Nippon Express Group can handle anything from bulk shipments to small-lot shipments less than a container load, providing pickup, delivery and customs clearance at both origin and destination to ensure reliable door-to-door transport to the customer.
  • The lead time from Wuhan to Hamburg is about 14 days, about 25 days less time than needed for ocean cargo transport between these two points.
  • Transport costs are about one-eighth those of air transport and about twice those of maritime transport, and new door-to-door package fares in a fare structure that is easier to understand and use have been established for this new service.
  • A tracing service specifically designed for this service will be available. Customers will be directly updated twice per day on the status of their cargo while it is in China and Europe (this service should be available at the beginning of 2016).
  • Teams specializing in rail transport will be organized in both Europe and China to deal with specific inquiries and estimates.

Background

  • There is a growing tendency among the manufacturing companies with production bases in China's coastal regions to shift their production bases inland in response to rising costs in the coastal regions and growing consumption within China. As a result of this change, transport and domestic delivery costs as well as lead time are becoming issues.
  • In the name of its "One Belt, One Road" initiative, the Chinese government in recent years has been pushing ahead rapidly with efforts to improve the trunk line networks of ground and ocean routes connecting China and Europe. Rail transport from major inland Chinese cities to Europe constitutes the core of these ground route networks, and peripheral logistics infrastructure is also being enhanced.
  • At the same time, rising consumption in China has led to an expansion in imports from Europe, and the future will undoubtedly see growing need for transport approaches to replace ocean cargo transport in order to deliver cargo directly to inland destinations.
  • Nippon Express has been bolstering its presence in China's interior, setting up new business locations in Zhengzhou and Kunming this past April, and it is aiming to tap into the demand for consumer goods logistics between China and Europe by enhancing the routes connecting the two.

To satisfy diversifying logistics needs in future, Nippon Express will develop new transport products that combine a variety of modes and will strive to further expand its global logistics business