Suez Canal blockage spurs transportation debate

Going by truck

Last year may not have been a good one for most industries, but this was not the case for road transportation services between Europe and China.

Since the pandemic emerged, the global logistics industry has faced huge challenges.

Marine freight services have been delayed due to local prevention measures, air cargo capacities have shrunk because of the large number of international flights canceled, and there is insufficient capacity on China-Europe freight trains to cope with this situation.

Dilxat Mamat, chief operating officer at Alblas Transport (Xinjiang), said, "Against such a backdrop, truck transportation is emerging as a new option for China-Europe trade."

Experts said that compared with other modes of transportation, moving goods by road is efficient, cost-effective and offers flexibility.

Umberto de Pretto, secretary-general of the International Road Transport Union, based in Geneva, Switzerland, said a rising number of European consumers are shopping online during the pandemic. There has been consistent growth in the highly efficient, flexible, door-to-door transportation solution, along with rising demand for Sino-Europe cross-border e-commerce.

IRU was founded more than 70 years ago to facilitate trade, international road transportation and passenger mobility, and support sustainable development worldwide.

It manages Transports Internationaux Routiers operations, or TIR, the only global customs transit system for moving goods across international borders. TIR has United Nations' authorization.

China joined the UN TIR Convention in 2016. The convention is now applicable in ports across the Chinese mainland.

De Pretto said the convention means that goods can be sent door-to-door by truck, saving about 10 days compared with rail services, or the equivalent of shipping by air with door-to-door delivery. The cost is also at least 50 percent lower than that for air transportation, he added.

Dilxat Mamat said that in the past year, Alblas Transport (Xinjiang) Co's business revenue rose more than tenfold, due largely to orders for high-value-added electronic products, along with cross-border e-commerce. He believes that demand will continue to grow strongly this year.

"The problem last year was that we did not have enough trucks," he said, adding that this year, the company is investing heavily on truck services between China and Europe.

Zhou Yan, chief representative of IRU's East and Southeast Asia representative office, believes road transportation across Eurasia has a bright future.

This is due to the huge potential for trade between China and Europe, the unique strengths of road transportation, the growing recognition it has received during the pandemic, and the consistent optimization of China's "international road transportation environment", Zhou Yan said.