B&E | DHL & China Brilliant Group Launch New "Silk Road" Rail Route

The route follows the "Belt and Road" corridors that China is touting as the modern Silk Road.

The route follows the "Belt and Road" corridors that China is touting as the modern Silk Road.

Image Attribute: The first freight train from Shenzhen to Minsk sets out from the port of Yantian on Monday. Photo: Reuters

The first milti-modal rail connection between Shenzhen, China, and Minsk, Belarus was launched by German logistics giant DHL and China Brilliant, an integrated service provider in global manufacturing and consumption.The new route covers new overland connections to several major cities along China’s “Belt and Road” and is the latest route in the DHL Asia-Europe-Asia multimodal network.

The new route will transit through the Alashankou-Dostyk rail juncture which already services several other flagship multimodal services, including rail connections from Chengdu, Zhengzhou, and Lianyungang to continental Europe. As with its other “Belt and Road” routes, the Shenzhen-Minsk connection will also offer customers access to DHL solutions including real-time GPS tracking of containers and fully-managed customs clearance for the entire journey.

In a ceremony at Shenzhen's Pingyan Railway Station, Zhang Chunhua, Founder of China Brilliant Group, DHL's local partner in the venture highlighted the importance of this new route for the Shenzhen economy. He said, "By building central railway and logistics center, it will allow Shenzhen business to reduce their production costs and benefit from the Belt and Road initiative".

The sixth route on the Asia-Europe-Asia multi-modal network, the Shenzhen-Minsk route will not only serve China. With road and port transfers, the route can be extended to South East Asia and neighboring countries including Vietnam, Philippines, and Taiwan.

“Eastern Europe’s economies are growing faster than almost any others worldwide,  with significant export opportunities arising from the region’s rising wages and disposable income levels,” said Steve Huang, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Greater China. “Minsk offers Chinese businesses an efficient gateway into the Baltic States and Nordic countries in addition to other major European destinations like Warsaw, Hamburg, and Tilburg via Brest.”

“Trade growth between China and Belarus shows no signs of slowing down, and we are excited to be partnering with DHL to further streamline freight connections between both countries,” said Zhang Chunhua, Founder, China Brilliant Group. “The partnerships that DHL has with governments and businesses globally, coupled with our market strength in Shenzhen-based supply chains, have come together to create a solution that directly meets the needs of China’s expansion-hungry manufacturers and producers.”

(c) 2017 Thomson Reuters