As multiple regions across Europe faced rare, extreme heatwaves this summer and experienced shortages of cooling and heat-relief supplies, the traditional maritime transport cycle of around 40 days proved too slow to meet urgent needs. Leveraging robust Chinese speed, on August 24, a China-EU freight train (X8151) fully loaded with cooling appliances departed from Xi'an, China. Exiting via the Alashankou port, it reached Mannheim, Germany, in as fast as 12 days. This reduced transit time by two-thirds, completely outperforming conventional sea freight.
The China-EU Express significantly cuts transit times, effectively lowering corporate warehousing costs, capital occupation costs, and the risk of unsalable inventory caused by market fluctuations. Being less susceptible to oceanic weather, typhoons, port congestion, and maritime geopolitical conflicts, it provides much stronger supply chain resilience.
The China-EU Express transports 53 major categories comprising over 50,000 types of goods. Products urgently needed in the European market include new energy vehicles, photovoltaic products, lithium batteries, air conditioners, electric fans, pharmaceutical products, precision instruments, food products, and chemicals. Compared to maritime transport, which is vulnerable to turbulence, humidity, and prolonged delays, the China-EU Express utilizes fixed-schedule whole-journey timetables and refrigerated container technology to better safeguard the safety of precision goods such as technology and pharmaceuticals.
