Cosco eyes prospects in China-Europe rail link
Shipping giant seeks to tap into fledgling freight market amid dim outlook in seaborne transport
China Ocean Shipping Group (Cosco) is looking to tap into the fledgling China-Europe rail freight market, a move that could drive more imports from Europe, while the company remains pessimistic about the near-term prospects of the seaborne transport market.
"We would like to visit China Railway Corp after the Apec summit [in Beijing next week] to talk about cooperation over water-rail multimodal transport and freight train services between [China and Europe ]," Cosco chairman Ma Zehua said in Chongqing, where the company is hosting the annual World Shipping (China) Summit.
"We have a far-reaching sales network at home and abroad. We would like to use this asset to contribute to drawing more backhaul cargo [from Europe to China] for [Yuxinou Logisitcs]."
Founded in 2012, Yuxinou is a joint venture between companies in countries across the 11,179km rail link to Germany.
It started out from providing block train services for laptops produced by Hewlett-Packard, which has a large manufacturing base in Chongqing. As of last month, Yuxinou had run 170 freight train services, each carrying 41 40-foot containers.
Major cargo types were laptops, car parts, machinery and apparel, Yuxinou general manager Zhou Shulin said.