DHL now offers less-than-container load rail service from Europe to Asia

• DHL Global Forwarding grows its rail freight capacity in the Belt and Road network
• New weekly LCL service between Duisburg and Chengdu to meet increasing demand
• Lead time of up to 29 days for LCL shipments door-to-door from Europe to China

The demand for rail freight capacity on the “New Silk Road” is continuously increasing, and this land connection is not a one-way street. Rail transport in the reverse direction, from Europe to Asia, is also rapidly growing. Shippers are more frequently exploring the train connections from the West to the East as a reasonable transport alternative. Within this context, DHL Global Forwarding, the air, ocean and rail freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has introduced a new less-than-container load (LCL) service from Duisburg, Germany, to Chengdu, China.

The new DHL Railconnect LCL service addresses customers who are mainly shipping general cargo and want to leverage the reliable and fast transport service via rail. With a lead time of up to 29 days door-to-door between the main economic areas, DHL Global Forwarding connects Europe and China faster than by sea and at more reasonable costs than via air freight.

“With the extension of our service by a weekly DHL LCL rail service ex Europe, we are offering our customers a transport solution for LCL shipments from all over Europe to China. This allows also exporters of smaller volumes a reliable and proper planning of their supply chains. What has long been standard for air, sea and road transport is now also available for rail. We are filling an important gap and continue to expand our product portfolio to suit all shipment sizes with planned departure schedules for West- & Eastbound directions,” states Thomas Kowitzki, Head of China Rail, Multimodal Europe, DHL Global Forwarding.

Mostly shippers from the Automotive, Manufacturing & Engineering and Chemical sectors are leveraging the capabilities provided by the new Silk Road to ship everything from spare parts, components, and raw materials up to finished goods. However, with the increasing use of the rail services the demand for less-than-container load (LCL) solutions has also increased. This is why DHL Global Forwarding is now offering a fixed scheduled LCL service to China using DHL logistics platforms. The new DHL LCL service enables reliable supply chain planning while helping to meet ad hoc orders or production needs.