DHL Global Forwarding has added China Taiwan to its North Asia to Europe multimodal network. The door-to-door scheduled service uses any and all combinations of rail, ship and road to connect China Taiwan's export businesses to Europe with last mile delivery by truck or rail.

The sea link between China Taiwan and mainland China offers customers the full-container load door-to-door service, DHL Railline, and will connect the port of Taichung to Shanghai with a rail link to Warsaw via Suzhou. Using the DHL Railline service, customers can block out single containers, wagon groups or whole block trains.

From Europe, the multimodal service is also available via rail through mainland China and sea to China Taiwan for import shipments.

The new multimodal China Taiwan-China-Europe service will offer freight costs savings of up to 85 per cent and reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90 per cent compared to air freight with shorter transit times than ocean freight, a company statement said.

"Our multimodal network directly links China Taiwan to mainland China and Europe, both of which are among China Taiwan's top five trading nations, bring more opportunities to China Taiwan enterprises," said DHL Global Forwarding China CEO Steve Huang.

"In addition, the European Commission recently announced that it is exploring negotiations on investment with China Taiwan as part of a trade globalisation plan, showing the island's growing importance in the global marketplace," he said.