"For the first time in 30 years, no car transport ship has crossed the Red Sea," European shipowners lamented the recent impact of the Red Sea crisis. For a period of time, the security situation in the Red Sea has continued to deteriorate, shipping companies have been forced to detour, maritime transportation costs have significantly increased, and arrival times are difficult to predict, seriously impacting the stability of the global industrial and supply chains. At a time when the shipping dilemma is difficult to solve, news headlines such as "China Europe freight trains fully booked ahead of schedule" and "The Red Sea crisis proves that China is ahead" frequently appear in international media. Against the backdrop of frequent geopolitical risks such as the Red Sea crisis and the impact on global logistics and supply chains, the stabilizing role of the China Europe freight train has become more prominent.
The Red Sea is an important shipping route on global shipping routes. After the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian Israeli conflict, the Houthi militants launched attacks in the Red Sea region to show their support for Palestine. The United States and others launched airstrikes on armed targets in House, leading to even more tense situations. Many international shipping companies have been forced to suspend their Red Sea routes and detour around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, resulting in a sharp increase in the time cost of Asia Europe trade and more than doubling transportation costs, leading to imbalances in the global industrial and supply chains, triggering a chain reaction.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, about 47% of toys, 40% of household appliances and clothing on the East Asia Europe route are being affected by the rising freight and delayed arrival. Part of the industrial raw materials are difficult to deliver, and large enterprises such as Tesla and Volvo have been forced to suspend production in their accessory factories in Belgium and other places. Jan Hoffman, Director of the Trade Logistics Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said that the Red Sea crisis "is having a destructive impact on already fragile global trade and supply chains," highlighting the fragility of maritime transportation in the face of geopolitics, tension, and climate change. ".
In the face of risks, the global logistics industry has become more aware of the "fragility" mentioned by Hoffman, re examining the choice of goods transportation, and seeking safer and more reliable transportation solutions. In early February, the website of Consumer News and Business Channel in the United States quoted Igor Tanbakar, Executive Director of Dutch Railway Bridge Freight Company, as saying that in the past four weeks, the booking volume of China Europe freight trains has increased by 37%, and the demand for railway transportation has exploded. The main reason for the early booking of the China Europe freight train is that this transportation line provides the most scarce resource in the global industrial and supply chain - stability.
The China Europe freight train is less affected by the external environment and has high stability. The China Europe freight train has opened several full schedule routes, with fixed train numbers, routes, schedules, and operating times arranged by railways in various countries along the route. The focus is on reasonable control of operational processes such as port station reloading and handover. The transportation time both domestically and internationally is relatively fixed, providing stable expectations for customer production organization, logistics trade, and capital turnover, which can better ensure the smooth flow of international industrial and supply chains. US media pointed out that geopolitical risks such as the Red Sea crisis have exposed the vulnerability of the maritime throat, and compared to this, the reliability and punctuality of cross Eurasian railway freight volume are higher.
In addition to improving supply chain stability, the China Europe freight train also has significant cost-effectiveness advantages. Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao quoted industry insiders as saying that after the outbreak of the Red Sea crisis, the freight demand for China Europe trains has increased by 100%. The railway container freight from Chongqing to Europe has increased by about 20% due to changes in supply and demand, but it is still about 30% cheaper than the current sea freight. Sea freight has lost its price advantage compared to China Europe freight trains. Higher efficiency is a natural advantage of China Europe freight trains for sea transportation. The China Europe freight train departs from Chongqing and takes only 15 to 20 days to Europe, which is 7 to 10 days faster than Red Sea shipping. The efficiency of the China Europe freight train is still constantly improving. At present, it only takes 10 days for Xi'an to travel to Duisburg, Germany, which is two days shorter than 2023 and about a week shorter than the earliest train.
"The Red Sea crisis has proved that China is ahead." The bimonthly issue of Foreign Policy of the United States argues that the China Europe Train has seen greater value: as the main artery of connectivity for high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", the China Europe Train has connected 219 cities in 25 European countries, and built a safe and smooth lifeline of the production and supply chain in a turbulent world. The transportation service network of China Europe freight trains basically covers the entire Eurasian continent, effectively expanding economic and trade exchanges between China and countries along the route, deepening international production capacity cooperation, accelerating cross-border flow of factor resources, and injecting new impetus into the development of the Eurasian continent.
The article in Foreign Policy pointed out that "the the Belt and Road Initiative represents what every country should do for its own interests: to establish as many supply channels as possible. This can not only hedge against unforeseen supply disruptions, but also enhance its connectivity and influence." It is worth mentioning that the relationship between China EU trains and sea routes is not one of competition and competition for resources, but of complementarity, Together, they constitute an indispensable channel network for trade between China and Europe.
The operation of the world economy cannot be separated from global freight and commodity trade. Against the backdrop of geopolitical conflicts severely impacting global supply chains, the advantages and contributions of China Europe freight trains are invaluable. This also shows once again that under the background of overlapping global risks and challenges, the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" initiative has increasingly important strategic significance and era value for the stability and prosperity of the world economy.
