UPS expands scope of Europe-China rail service

UPS Inc. said today it has added six locations to its full-container load and less-than-container load multimodal rail service between Europe and China.

In China, locations in Changsha, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Wuhan will join existing stops in Zhengzhou and Chengdu, UPS said. In Europe, stops in Duisburg, Germany, and Warsaw, Poland, were added to the existing locations in Lodz, Poland, and Hamburg, Germany. The service operates in both directions.

The additional stations will give customers on the world's largest trade lane more options to reduce supply chain costs and more effectively balance cost and time-in-transit requirements, according to Atlanta-based UPS. The company touts that the service can save shippers up to 65 percent compared to the cost of airfreight, while improving transit times by 40 percent over slower ocean freight services.

The four Chinese stations were chosen for their close proximity to provincial industrial manufacturing, commercial, and cultural centers in interior China, UPS said. In Europe, Duisburg is at the heart of the industrial Ruhr area of Germany and offers access to river, rail, road, and air transport.

The Warsaw location serves Poland, which has become a center for European e-commerce fulfillment, research and development and industrial manufacturing, UPS said.