New service – rail transport
In March 2021, Aberg Express launched a new strategic service targeted to business clients – rail transport. The routes we offer include China-Estonia-China and China-Finland-China.
Rail transport is a future trend in Europe and all over the world – it is a time-critical trans-continental transport service of the current age. The total volume of rail transport between China, the largest “shopping mall” of the world, and Europe, has grown year by year. The reason for this is China’s programme Belt and Road Initiative which has revived the historical cargo route network – the Silk Road. Over the past year, the use of rail transport has significantly increased due to disruptions caused by COVID-19 in air and maritime transport.
During its operation, Aberg Express has been offering time-critical transport services and dedicated logistics solutions mainly in Europe. One of our specialties has been road transport. We have also offered global air freight services such as express air transport, on-board courier service and charter flights. Our second niche as a premium freight forwarder has been our strong connection to Finland. Since its foundation in 2008, Aberg Express has offered export of services also to Finnish customers. The strong connection to Finland was established by Kaspar Soidla, the owner and manager of Aberg Express, after he finished his studies in Jyväskylä and started building cooperation with Finnish companies.
The main driving factors for launching the new service have been the increasing railway enquiries and the team’s eagerness to start with the new and exciting line of business. Aberg Express shall continue to offer time-critical delivery services and tailored logistics solutions both in Europe and beyond. We are also able to offer charter service for rail transport. However, the price of charter rail transport may be quite expensive, as according to Chinese legislation, a charter train leaving China must have a minimum of 41 fully loaded freight wagons. Our main lines of business in rail freight transport will be LCL (less than container load) and FCL (full container load) deliveries.
The reason why freight transport can be considered the most competitive form of trans-continental transport in terms of time is that rail freight from China is much faster than sea freight. By rail, the door-to-door LCL-delivery takes approximately 22-30 days, while by sea it takes 50-55 days. Considering that air freight deliveries take approximately 8-10 days, rail transport may be seen as the most competitive of the three transport modes.
Our main railway stations in China are Hefei and Zhengzhou. In Europe we use the Helsinki, Malaszewicze and Katowice stations. We also offer cross trading for sending goods from China directly to a receiver in Europe. We organise regular weekly departures from China. Our rail freight service is economically friendly and affordable. Considering recent events, rail freight has proven to be a stable and reliable mode of transport. Regardless of the shortage of containers that has affected not only maritime transport but also rail transport and the capacity problems in air transport, rail transport has saved of numerous supply chains during turbulent times.
We believe that our new service, long-term experience of organising express logistics and professional approach to customer service will create excellent additional value to our current and future customers.