On July 26th LAN CARGO participated in the first rail/air shipment from Asia via Europe, organized by DB Schenker.
The cargo included 21 tons of electronic parts from Chongqing, China, through Frankfurt, Germany, with final destination Viracopos airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The parts were shipped onboard the “ChinaTrain”, beginning their journey in China, and crossing Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland before finally arriving in Duisburg, Germany. The 10,124 kilometer journey takes approx. 18-19 days, which is half the time it would take by sea from China to Europe. The eastbound traffic by sea from China to Brazil takes 50-55 days.
Guido Henke, Director Europe of LAN CARGO states: “We are very happy that DB Schenker, one of our Global Partners, decided to use LAN CARGO for this multimodal trial shipment from China to Brazil via Europe. It demonstrates the good cooperation both companies have here in Europe, and also that our freighter service from Europe to Brazil is well established, reliable and competitive. For LAN CARGO it is very important to be a key participant in this creative effort, to establish a new logistic solution for the cargo industry. Asia is one of the biggest export markets to Europe and the US, and also to South America. On one hand this kind of innovative service will increase the alternatives for the shippers, and on the other hand it generates more air cargo for the portion Europe-South America”.
The 21 tons of electronic parts were shipped to DB Schenker’s Eurohub in Frankfurt, where they were relabeled, secured, prepared for air cargo transportation and delivered to LAN CARGO`s facilities. The cargo was loaded aboard a Boeing 777F.
On Saturday afternoon, two hours prior to the departure of aircraft UC-1509 from Frankfurt to Viracopos, two DB Schenker associates, Nicole Reppich, Assistant Jet Cargo/Eurohub Export, and Henning Hoofe, Jet Cargo Operations, were accompanied out on ramp side by Thomas Repke, Sales Manager Germany LAN CARGO, attending and supervising the first Rail/Air shipment.
“This routing by train is an additional reliable and fast alternative to shipping by sea”, mentioned Frank Hermann, Commercial Director Europe.
“This first successful shipment combining rail, road and air freight demonstrates the growth potential of multimodal logistics,” said Daniel Wieland, Head of Rail Logistics & Forwarding at DB Schenker Logistics. Thomas Mack, Head of Global Air Freight at DB Schenker, added: “We are proud to pioneer this interesting transportation option for the market in Latin America”.
This successful joint operation underlines the global partnership and covers potential for future growth of intermodal logistics.