The Moscow-headquartered FESCO and RZD Logistics, a subsidiary of Russian Railways, are trialling combined sea-rail shipments between Far East Asia and southwestern Poland.

First, back in May, the parties have organised a shipment from the Japanese Port of Yokohama to the Commercial Port of Vladivostok, part of the FESCO Group, where containers were reloaded onto a RZD train which took them over the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Brest-Małaszewicze border crossing between Belarus and Poland. From there, the train headed for Brzeg Dolny.

Recently, a similar shipment has been dispatched, but this time from the Korean Port of Busan. The total door-to-door transit time, including the last mile truck delivery from Brzeg Dolny to a client's warehouse in the nearby Wrocław, toted up to 21 days.

"Europe is one of the biggest consumer markets in the world, there are located many high value-added products' manufactures, components and parts for which are delivered from the countries of Asia and Pacific. Delivery time is significant for them, and given logistics, the route through the Russian Far East is the most attractive in terms of saving time and managing sustainable deliveries," Alexander Isurin, President, FESCO, said.

Vyacheslav Valentik, Director General, RZD Logistics, added, "A test delivery from Japan to Europe by Trans-Siberian LandBridge service demonstrated a viability of the route through the Commercial Port of Vladivostok and the Trans-Siberian railway. Clients made sure of its safety and quality, and saw the rail delivery is faster than deep sea transportation. Now we offer to our clients from the Republic of Korea to assess economical efficiency of the transit service."

"In fact, the more cargoes transported by Trans-Siberian LandBridge, the more affordable the service is to the clients," Valentik highlighted.

Photo: FESCO