FAQ

What is ERAI?

The Eurasian Rail Alliance Index (ERAI) is a composite indicator of the costs of transit container transportation via the Eurasian Railway Corridor across the territory of the EAEU, from China to the EU, and from the EU to China.

What is the practical application of ERAI?

The ERAI is an indicator of the current state of the container railway transportation industry for all participants on the market. It also serves as an analytical decision-making tool for choosing the cargo transportation mode as well as a stock exchange instrument for settling forward contracts.

How is ERAI calculated?

ERAI is calculated based on railway transportation rates in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the costs of forwarding, terminal, agency and customs fees, the costs of renting and using fitting platforms, the costs of cargo escorting and cargo security services, and a broad range of other indicators.

What are the unique functional features of the ERAI portal?

Uniqueness of functional features of the ERAI portal lies in that it increases transparency of the international transport market by creating a joint information analysis resource with a high level of detail, reliability and accuracy of information. For instance, the indicators in the section of «Statistics» are calculated using real data on volumes, directions, and stock lists of transportation across the 1520 states, not industry insights.

How do I search for analytical materials and interviews on a certain topic?

The section «Analytics» provides users with all the necessary information on the topics of their interests with a set of filters. The filters allow to refine the search by the topic or date of publications, and the sources cited.

What are the advantages of railway transport over other modes of transportation?

The railway transport has a number of undoubted advantages over other modes of transportation: a considerably higher speed, and, therefore, a much shorter term of delivery (first and foremost, as compared to sea transport), a higher degree of safety and integrity of the transported cargo, more lucrative tariffs, and a higher level of eco-friendliness as compared to other modes of transportation.

What are the volumes and the commodity classification of cargoes transported in containers on railways between different countries of the European Union and regions of China?

The section «Statistics» accumulates a broad range of statistical data on container railway transportation between cities of Europe and regions of China. In this section the user can get information on the country/city of departure and the country/city of destination, volumes and directions of transit container railway transportation, and the commodity classification of cargoes.

Where can I find full information on line and terminal infrastructure of the transit railway route across the territories of Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus?

Information on line and terminal infrastructure of the transit railway route across the territory of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus can be found on the «Infrastructure» page of the «Statistics» block on the main page of the portal.

How do I subscribe to the ERAI newsletter?

To stay updated with the latest reports, articles, interviews and news, we recommend subscribing to the ERAI newsletter. This can be done by plugging your email address on the site’s main page, as well as in the analytics and news sections.

How do I use the cost calculator?

The indicative transportation costs are calculated based on current WCI Drewry indices for Deep Sea and ERAI East/West indices for Railway, depending on the direction of the route (East/West).

«The costs of financing during transportation» are calculated based on the Annual financing rate, the Transit time and the Cost of cargo per container (for that purpose, the Cost of cargo per kg and the average weight of one container at 16,000 kg are used).

«Total costs» show indicative costs for transportation of the said Number of containers from Europe to China and from China to Europe ((«Costs of financing during transportation» + «Indicative transportation costs») * Number of containers).

Are there any questions left?

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