The rail freight volumes handled by UTLC ERA, the main operator on the broad gauge section of the New Silk Road, have grown exponentially this year. The volumes transported in Q1 of 2019 were 54 per cent more than in Q1 2018, the operator announced.

UTLC ERA has shipped 62,622 TEUs by rail in the first quarter of this year. The gross traffic volumes in eastern direction totaled 27,086 TEUs in the first three months of 2019. Vise versa, the traffic amounted to 35,536 TEUs of goods moved from China to Europe. This indicates a year-on-year increase of 69 per cent and 44 per cent respectively.

RailFreight Summit

UTLC will share its experience on the New Silk Road at the RailFreight Summit, to be held in Gdansk on 15 and 16 May. It will join the Polish rail freight operator PKP CARGO and the Chinese logistics firm Beijing Trans Eurasia Internacional Logistics Ltd ( BTE) in discussing the current bottleneck at the Malaszewicze-Brest border crossing between Poland and Belarus. This is the most consumed, but also most congested border point on the New Silk Road.

This year’s RailFreight Summit is the second edition of the event. Top-level speakers will gather in the intermodal hub to discuss New Silk Road connections and other routes through Poland and Central Europe. Intermodal hubs and emerging markets are also among the themes. Registration is still open. More information about the event can be found on the website.