OREANDA-NEWS.  On January 24 finished the demonstrational run of the first international container train Beijing – Hamburg. The train left Beijing railway station Dahongmen (China) on January 9, and already on January 24 delivered to Hamburg (Germany) 20 40-feet and 58 20-feet containers (98 in total) loaded with different types of cargo. Consequently, the total transit time was of 15 days, length of the route – 9954 km.

As a freight forwarder on the territory of Mongolia, Russia and Belarus operated Russian company JSC TransContainer – an affiliate of JSC Russian Railways (RZD). The Company also provided own fitting platforms to carry containers on track of 1520 mm. In the project along with TransContainer participated JSC Russian Railways, railway administrations of China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, as well as Russian customs authorities.

“The aim of the given service is to show the potential clients the possibilities of the resources and technologies we posses, as well as to demonstrate the effectiveness and comprehensive teamwork of all the project participants, including foreign railway companies and Russian authorities. I should mention that all the railway authorities that take part in the project, were very much interested in successful finish of the demo run of the train”, – said Director General of JSC TransContainer Mr. Peter Baskakov.

According to him, the run should attract consignors from China to TransSiberian mainline, to use it as an alternative to sea trade routes for transportation from the Asia Pacific region to Europe. “TransContainer is international freight forwarding company, which currently, in partnership with RZD, is working on attracting transit to Russia, in particular to TransSib. Consequently, our company provides all the clients competitive services on this direction both independently and in co-operation with largest global freight forwarders,” – pointed Mr. P. Baskakov.

He also mentioned that during the organization of the service the up-to-date transportation technologies were used. “In particular we should notice the preliminary informing of the customs authorities on the nature of cargo. This technology is being quite actively used to organize services of container block train Kotka (Finland) – St. Petersburg,” – added Mr. Peter Baskakov.