UTLC ERA has reduced delivery times on the New Silk Road. The logistics company now transfers containers from Dostyk on the Chinese-Kazakh border to Brest on the Belarusian-Polish border in 5 days and even in 4.8 days during some weeks.

Such a result was achieved due to the increase of the train speed on the broad-gauge stretch of the New Silk Road (Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus). “At the end of the first half of the year, the speed was stable at around 1,100 kilometres per day. This enabled the reduction of transit time of freight containers on our base route Dostyk – Brest to 5 days, and in some weeks – to 4.8 days, the minimum in the entire history of the company”, said Alexey Grom, president of UTLC ERA. In the coming years, the logistics company plans to reduce the delivery time to 4.5 days.

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UTLC ERA railway service between Dostyk and Brest. Photo: UTLC ERA.

Stable growth

The delivery speed allows UTCL ERA to keep a positive trend in freight volumes on the New Silk Road. In the first half of this year, the container traffic on the China – Europe – China route has increased up to 135,189 TEUs or by 34 per cent more compared to the same period of the last year. Eastbound traffic in this period saw a growth of 45 per cent and achieved a level of 56,921 TEUs while the westbound volumes were 78,268 TEUs with a growth of 27 per cent.

“UTLC ERA is still the leader in terms of both growth rates and absolute numbers”, noted Alexey Grom. The product range of UTCL ERA includes cars and automotive accessories, home appliances and electronics, furniture and clothing, food and pharmaceuticals. Thanks to the factor of speed, the logistics company also attracted new customers from the premium segment of luxury cars.