CK Line has developed a multimodal transportation network to connect Qinzhou in China’s Beibu Gulf with inland areas of China and South Korea in 10 days and with Vietnam and Thailand in a week.
Chengdu, Chongqing, and Qinzhou in inland western China are connected by rail and then South Korea and Southeast Asian countries are connected by sea from Qinzhou.
CK Line will provide shippers with rail links to its existing Hai Phong Express (HPX) and South China-Thailand (SCT) services. HPX has been operating for 10 years while SCT started as a bi-weekly service in March, before being expanded to a weekly service in May.
SCT is served with two 700TEU ships, Marvel and Bal Star, which run alternately between Hong Kong, Nansha, Qinzhou, Hai Phong, Bangkok, Laem Chabang and Hong Kong.
Co-operated with HMM, the HPX route is Incheon, Busan, Hong Kong, Hai Phong, Qinzhou, Xiamen and Incheon.
Currently, cargoes from inland China are barged along the Yangtze River and transhipped in Shanghai. Including the time taken to reach the destination, the process takes three to four weeks. This can be shortened to 10 days by rail, and costs just US$50 to US$100 more per TEU.
“As the Chinese government is developing the inland of western China, cargo volumes from Chongqing, Chengdu, Kunming, and Guiyang have more than doubled since 2019,” said the South Korean line, which went on to add, “Currently, tight container shipping capacity has caused shippers to become increasingly dissatisfied so we expect that the sea-rail service will be an excellent alternative.”
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
