Davies Turner reports that its fixed-day, weekly rail import service for LCL cargoes from China is consistently delivering quicker transits than those publicised.

Tony Cole, head of supply chain services at the UK’s leading independent freight and logistics company says: “Having reviewed the statistics for our Express China Rail import service for the first five months of 2019, the scheduled transit time from the Wuhan rail hub to our Dartford depot has been beaten on 16 out of 22 weeks.

“Whilst the scheduled transit time from the Wuhan rail hub to our Dartford depot is 22 to 24 days, we are regularly seeing transits of 19 or 20 days, and in May achieved a record transit of 18 days.

“Since we launched the dedicated weekly consol service from Wuhan in November 2018 we have seen it go from strength to strength. Bookings have increased continually.

“The reliability and competitiveness of the rail service is proving to be very popular with customers, confirmed by 65% of bookings made coming from repeat business.”

Davies Turner’s Express China Rail Service sees containers carried by rail from Wuhan direct into Duisburg in Germany. They are then trucked under bond to the port of Rotterdam and transported by ferry to Purfleet, near Dartford for on-carriage by truck to Davies Turner’s main distribution centre, where they are discharged, customs cleared and delivered.

Cole adds: “The more direct method of moving the container from Wuhan to the UK that we introduced in November last year enabled us to offer lower rates to the market, and reduced the possibility of delays, as well as strengthening security.

“At just USD120/cbm or 500 kg, the service offers a competitive alternative to air freight, and reliably much faster transit times compared to the ocean freight alternative.”