Exporters of Chinese goods to Europe are scrambling to shift cargo shipments from ocean to the China—Europe rail land bridge, as ship slots become scarcer due to capacity cancelations from container lines in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The pandemic has greatly affected rail passenger traffic in Europe, where it has decreased by half of the dockside volume, most container traffic falls on sea transport, and domestic freight transport does not tend to switch to sustainable modes of transport.