After two years of decline, China-EU railfreight volumes are back on track [The Loadstar].
Westbound flows last year soaring 130% year on year, helped in part by the Red Sea crisis.
Volumes from China to Europe passed 330,700 teu, with 49,730 teu heading the other way, and while that represented the lowest score since 2017 — and a drop of 26.7% year on year — the combined China-Europe volumes were up 80.2% on 2023, according to the European Rail Alliance.
Supply chain analytics platform Upply said disruption had been one factor in the China-to-Europe increase.
The e-commerce boom has become a sign of today. The main factors here are the focus on the PRC as a driver of global demand and the «workshop of the world», as well as the attraction of electronic cross-border trade to faster delivery methods, one of which is railways.
At the end of 2020, the trade turnover between the Benelux countries and China amounted to about USD 98 billion, of which USD 26.09 billion accounted for exports to China and USD 71.86 billion - for import.
