Container shipments from China to Europe via Russia increased by 40 percent in March. This was announced on April 2 by the head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov. This is an important signal for the market: the overland route is regaining its weight in the structure of international trade after a long period of operating at a loss.
The growth of transit means that freight owners and logistics operators are once again looking more actively at the railway as a working tool for long international shipments. When a business sees high demand for container services, this is usually reflected in several areas at once: terminal loading, slot costs, booking deadlines, and interest in multimodal supply chains.
Another important point! The market is still highly sensitive to maritime risks, rate hikes and delivery time changes. In this situation, the railway gets an additional chance to gain a foothold as a route for some goods with medium and high urgency.
The 40 percent increase does not look like a local technical surge. This is an indicator that businesses are once again voting in volume for controlled and predictable transit.
