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New Highway to the West

[ November 29, 2018   //   ]

After more than six months preparation, CEVA Logistics Greater China has sent the first ever TIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers) truck from Khorgos, China via Kazakhstan to Europe.
The trial run was on Nov. 13, 2018 and was successfully operated as a joint initiative between CEVA Logistics, the IRU (International Road Transportation Union) and CEVA’s partners Alblas and Jet-rail. The truck arrived in Poland on Nov. 24, with no disruption or Customs issues after 11 days on the road. The closing TIR at its final destination was after 13 days on Nov. 26.
The new road service will deliver a cost saving of about 50% compared to air options. With a lead time door-to-door of between 10 to 15 days, it will be 30-50% faster than rail.
Customs sealed in Khorgos, the first TIR truck from China to Europe started its 7,000 kilometers journey via Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus to Poland in the afternoon of Nov. 13. It was a historic moment when the truck, operated by CEVA’s partner Alblas International Logistics, left Khorgos to cross the border into Kazakhstan.
“This is a day to remember. Together with our partners, we have trialed TIR all the way to Europe today the very first time,” said Kelvin Tang, Director Road & Rail” at CEVA Logistics Greater China.
Since then, CEVA has started to investigate the possibility and feasibility of road transportation from China to Europe to find an alternative to the escalating air freight market “Thanks to the implementation of the TIR system this year, and the great support of IRU, the Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Transport (RIOH), and the Xinjiang government, we were able to make this trial run happen together with our partners Jet-rail International Transportation in Shanghai and Alblas International Logistics in the Netherlands,” said Torben Bengtsson, Executive Vice President of CEVA Logistics Greater China.
The trial proves that the TIR carnet issued in China is accepted in the transit countries en-route to Europe. The Government, IRU, RIOH and many other parties worked together to remove barriers and uncertainties.
“As a result, we foresee a great future for road transportation from China to Europe. We have a lot of customers waiting for the start of a regular service. During the coming weeks we will work on some small details of the service and then prepare to start regular operations as early as possible in 2019,” Torben Bengtsson added.

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