German intermodal hub Duisport has recorded 50 container trains per week as Chinese transport reached historic levels in April.
Between 35 and 40 trains travel between Duisburg and various destinations in China every week. Although the number declined in February and March, since the lock-down was lifted in some provinces, China’s economy has quickly started up again. Last month, the Port of Duisburg registered an increase to approximately 50 trains a week.
Duisport chief executive Erich Staake said: “We are definitely noticing the catch-up effects resulting from the pandemic in the China business. But at the same time we’ve continued to work intensively on our network and in April we extended our train services to include further Chinese destinations.
“Our strategic cooperation with all of the relevant logistics hubs in China make rail transportation even more attractive for our customers. Currently, Duisburg is already one of the preferred destinations for Chinese rail freight transport in Europe.
“As a high-performance logistics hub, we also offer the market advantage of rapid onward transport to other destinations such as the sea ports on the European coasts. It is particularly in our current crisis situation that rail freight becomes an important alternative to ocean freight.”
