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First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

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Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#11

Post by mvid »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #3
MengerSponge wrote: post #2

Does anyone know how the train compares to ships wrt CO2/kg shipped? I'm sure the train comes out on top, but by how much? Also, how frequently could one of those trains run?

Not sure about CO2 impact, but one problem is that these trains are running pretty empty back to china (china doesn't want to import so much from Europe by rail). I think they are running 50 trains a year, with a heavy subsidy to make it affordable (half the cost).

Maybe China could import the trains back by container ship... one way train line.

Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#12

Post by _Codemonkeyism »

This has been going on with Germany for quite some time now (years) and is expanding in Germany, so it seems to work. I also found it interesting though more goods are shipped from China, a significant amount of goods is shipped to China.

Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#13

Post by martinald »

samhamilton wrote: post #7

I would guess that this is rolling out just for the PR, the sheer number of trains needed to replace one decent sized container ship just makes this all prohibitive to ever replace much sea freight plus launching when there is a glut of container ships floating around as well, which is keeping the price lower than most ship owners can breakeven. Ok so it's quicker, but it's not that quick. The only winners would be t…

Agreed. I really can't see this being a success for anything more than PR. If you need it ASAP, you're going to use airfreight. If you don't you're going to have it by sea. I don't see much of a need for something in between those two timeframes. Anyone specialised in logistics care to comment if there is an actual market here?

Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#14

Post by pasta »

samhamilton wrote: post #7

I would guess that this is rolling out just for the PR, the sheer number of trains needed to replace one decent sized container ship just makes this all prohibitive to ever replace much sea freight plus launching when there is a glut of container ships floating around as well, which is keeping the price lower than most ship owners can breakeven. Ok so it's quicker, but it's not that quick. The only winners would be t…

If waiting for a part costs thousands a day, every day saved is a plus.

I think there are a lot of companies willing to pay extra to get it in 18 days vs 27 days.

Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#15

Post by ekianjo »

pasta wrote: post #14
samhamilton wrote: post #7

I would guess that this is rolling out just for the PR, the sheer number of trains needed to replace one decent sized container ship just makes this all prohibitive to ever replace much sea freight plus launching when there is a glut of container ships floating around as well, which is keeping the price lower than most ship owners can breakeven. Ok so it's quicker, but it's not that quick. The only winners would be t…

If waiting for a part costs thousands a day, every day saved is a plus. I think there are a lot of companies willing to pay extra to get it in 18 days vs 27 days.

if that is the case you use airfreight.

Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#16

Post by stock_toaster »

martinald wrote: post #13
samhamilton wrote: post #7

I would guess that this is rolling out just for the PR, the sheer number of trains needed to replace one decent sized container ship just makes this all prohibitive to ever replace much sea freight plus launching when there is a glut of container ships floating around as well, which is keeping the price lower than most ship owners can breakeven. Ok so it's quicker, but it's not that quick. The only winners would be t…

Agreed. I really can't see this being a success for anything more than PR. If you need it ASAP, you're going to use airfreight. If you don't you're going to have it by sea. I don't see much of a need for something in between those two timeframes. Anyone specialised in logistics care to comment if there is an actual market here?

My guess is simply logistical redundancy. If the shipping lanes were impassible for some reason (blockade? ports damaged due to tsunami?), goods could still be sent/received via rail more cheaply than by air.

Could also be a way to spur growth too. If you need to spend money on something, infrastructure seems like a decent choice.

Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#17

Post by jdietrich »

MengerSponge wrote: post #2

Does anyone know how the train compares to ships wrt CO2/kg shipped? I'm sure the train comes out on top, but by how much? Also, how frequently could one of those trains run?

According to figures in an OECD report, rail freight has significantly higher CO2 emissions per tonne-km - 41-102g vs 30-40g.

http://www.oecd.org/trade/envtrade/2386636.pdf (p. 29)

Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#18

Post by nullnilvoid »

martinald wrote: post #13
samhamilton wrote: post #7

I would guess that this is rolling out just for the PR, the sheer number of trains needed to replace one decent sized container ship just makes this all prohibitive to ever replace much sea freight plus launching when there is a glut of container ships floating around as well, which is keeping the price lower than most ship owners can breakeven. Ok so it's quicker, but it's not that quick. The only winners would be t…

Agreed. I really can't see this being a success for anything more than PR. If you need it ASAP, you're going to use airfreight. If you don't you're going to have it by sea. I don't see much of a need for something in between those two timeframes. Anyone specialised in logistics care to comment if there is an actual market here?

Compared to container ships, freight train is another option. Although not many, there are times when the goods are needed more urgently than container ships (think of some industries that require parts urgently but cannot afford air). In addition, some landlocked cities simply do not have container ships as an option. They need to ship goods to a nearby port by train or truck and then load all the containers to a ship.

From this article http://richardtorian.blogspot.com/2012/01/cost-per-ton-mile-..., you can cut the shipping costs by train to a pretty low level.

Re: First China-U.K. Freight Train Departs as Xi Seeks to Lift Trade

#19

Post by pasta »

ekianjo wrote: post #15
pasta wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If waiting for a part costs thousands a day, every day saved is a plus. I think there are a lot of companies willing to pay extra to get it in 18 days vs 27 days.

if that is the case you use airfreight.

It depends. A big airplane can carry like 20,000 kg total. This is the weight that fits in most containers.

So its the airfreight cost vs the waiting cost.

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