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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

#91

Post by mikeash »

Ericson2314 wrote: post #85
jakozaur wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some price estimates: (very crude, but shows magnitude of price) Rail is 4 times more expensive than by sea. Air is at least 6 times more expensive than rail, but can be even 18 times more expensive if payload is heavy. Cost of shipping 40′ HC container: - by sea: $1,600 - by train: $6,800 - by air, light, so you pay for volume: 4.6 USD / kg, 40 ft got volume 67.7 m3 * 143 kg / m3 ~= 9 tons, $41,400 - by air, heavy,…

Rail would seem in principle to far and away be the most efficient, so I hope these prices change to reflect that.

Do you mean more efficient than ships? Ships are far more efficient. They can scale up far larger, making for much lower fuel consumption per ton, and don't need to maintain much (or often any at all) infrastructure between terminals. Trains exist just because a substantial minority of the planet's surface isn't covered by water.

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

#92

Post by ksec »

Offtopic: How far are we from shortening this trip from 15 days to say, 12 or 10 days?

15 days is half a month. But if this could be shortened to 10 days, it is 3 regular shipment in a month.

For someone like Apple, this could be extremely cost efficient. Rather then paying the high price to book every single possible fright from China, they could now do it via train, at least to everywhere in Europe.　　

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

#93

Post by csiegert »

pasta wrote: post #19
ekianjo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A big airplane can carry a lot more than 20,000 kg (20 metric tons) total. The Antonov An-225 Mriya can carry a payload of 200 tons for 4000 km[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya#Specifica...

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

#94

Post by johansch »

ksec wrote: post #92

Offtopic: How far are we from shortening this trip from 15 days to say, 12 or 10 days? 15 days is half a month. But if this could be shortened to 10 days, it is 3 regular shipment in a month. For someone like Apple, this could be extremely cost efficient. Rather then paying the high price to book every single possible fright from China, they could now do it via train, at least to everywhere in Europe.

The article says 18 days and 12000 km.

That's just ~28 km/h on average. I ride my bicycle faster than that :).

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

#95

Post by novaleaf »

torrent-of-ions wrote: post #84
willyt wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the ship route China London is a lot more miles than the train.

I would have thought so too, but I'm not sure. Does anyone have any figures on this?

no figures, but there is the northern route (north of russia) so getting to europe via sea is pretty direct. Thank global warming for that!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/oct/05/melting-...

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

#96

Post by adamjc »

johansch wrote: post #94
ksec wrote: post #92

Offtopic: How far are we from shortening this trip from 15 days to say, 12 or 10 days? 15 days is half a month. But if this could be shortened to 10 days, it is 3 regular shipment in a month. For someone like Apple, this could be extremely cost efficient. Rather then paying the high price to book every single possible fright from China, they could now do it via train, at least to everywhere in Europe.

The article says 18 days and 12000 km. That's just ~28 km/h on average. I ride my bicycle faster than that :).

For 24 hours a day? ;)

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

#99

Post by mattkrause »

csiegert wrote: post #93
pasta wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A big airplane can carry a lot more than 20,000 kg (20 metric tons) total. The Antonov An-225 Mriya can carry a payload of 200 tons for 4000 km[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya#Specifica...

There is exactly one of those planes in existence.

That said, I think someone is considering (re)starting production.

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