Press Release

Nippon Express launches scheduled cross-border rail freight service from Suzhou, China to Europe

February 18, 2021

One departure weekly from Suzhou to Europe

Nippon Express (China) Co., Ltd. (Tatsuo Sugiyama, Chairman; hereinafter, "NE China"), a local subsidiary of Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (Mitsuru Saito, President), and Nippon Express Europe GmbH (Toshikazu Kitai, President) launched a new scheduled cross-border rail freight service from Suzhou, China to Europe on Sunday, February 7.

[Features of the new service]

• The service utilizes Suzhou West Station, located amidst the industrial clusters of eastern China.
• Space can be secured flexibly and in large volume by concluding block space agreements with railway operators in Suzhou.
• Scheduled service will be provided once per week (departing each Sunday) from Suzhou to Małaszewicze, Poland and to Hamburg and Duisburg in Germany.

[Background to service development]

In November 2015 NE China began development of a cross-border rail freight service between China and Europe to offer a "third transport mode" between air and ocean transport departing from Xian Station and other major stations in China.

Transport between China and Europe is now suffering from shortages of vessel space that have sharply boosted demand for international rail transport and in turn created shortages of space on Europe-bound trains operating from major stations in China. The new service was developed to meet growing customer needs for rail transport between China and Europe.

[Future plans]

• Nippon Express will be moving ahead with the development of rail freight services from Europe to Suzhou.
• The Company will also be pursuing development of rail freight services from Suzhou to Moscow, Russia and Hanoi, Vietnam.

To satisfy increasingly diverse logistics needs, Nippon Express will continue formulating new transport products and meeting the commitment to "create new ideas and value that expand the field of logistics" declared in the Nippon Express Group Corporate Philosophy.