Press Release

Nippon Express begins scheduled cross-border rail transport service between China and Europe

June 4, 2019

-- Three departures per week from Xian, China to Europe --

Nippon Express (China) Co., Ltd. (Tatsuo Sugiyama, President), a local subsidiary of Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (Mitsuru Saito, President), and Nippon Express Europe GmbH (Shigeru Umino, President) will launch a scheduled cross-border transport service - "Eurasia Train Direct" - between China and Europe on Tuesday, June 4.

[Service features]

• Space can be secured flexibly, inexpensively and in bulk via a block space agreement (hereinafter, "BSA") with a railway operator in Xian.
• Cargo will be collected from locations across China, and then shipped at scheduled departure times three times each week (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) from Xian, China to Ma?aszewice, Poland and onward to Hamburg and Duisburg in Germany.
• A consolidated transport service utilizing scheduled departures and operating from start to finish under Nippon Express management will be offered once weekly (departing every Friday) from the Nippon Express CFS in Shanghai to the Nippon Express CFS in Dusseldorf.

The Nippon Express Group will provide high-quality service at both departure and arrival, and the lead time of about 24-26 days between the two CFSs represents a significant reduction from the lead time required for conventional ocean transport (about 40 days)

[Background to service development]
Nippon Express developed a cross-border rail freight service between China and Europe that began in November 2015 as a product offering a "third transport mode" between air freight and ocean freight, and that has since become a firmly-established means of transport.

To meet market needs for rail transport, reliably ensure space and improve transport frequency, a BSA has been concluded with a Xian railway operator that enables Nippon Express to offer scheduled service. Nippon Express has also developed a consolidated transport service to serve the needs of customers wishing to send small-lot cargo quickly and cheaply from the Shanghai area, where demand for cargo bound for Europe has been intensifying.

[Future developments]

• Consideration is underway of scheduled transport services from Europe to China.
• Plans are being made to expand this consolidated transport service within the year to two departures weekly.

To meet a widening range of logistics needs in future, Nippon Express will continue developing new transport products and, as stated in its Corporate Philosophy, to create new ideas and value that expand the field of logistics.

• Nippon Express' international rail freight website(URL：https://www.nittsu.co.jp/railfreight/)