The first weekly rail freight service between Chengdu and Rotterdam has arrived after 15 days crossing Kazakhstan and Russia, said Dutch partner RailPortbrabant.

The service was launched by the Chinese rail operator CDiRS in June, and now the Chengdu-Tilburg-Rotterdam-Express is in full operation, said a company statement.

At the moment, this is a weekly service, however, the ambition of CDiRS and RailPortbrabant, part of the GVT Group, is to run five times a week late next year.

The Chengdu-Tilburg-Rotterdam-Express reaches its destination. Chengdu offers railway connections to Ningbo, Wuhan, Yiwu, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Nanning and Kunming, as well as to Vietnam and South Korea.

"Cargo from China is often shipped by sea, short sea, from the port of Rotterdam to the UK, Scandinavia and Portugal," said Roland Verbraak, general manager at GVT Group of Logistics.

Said Port of Rotterdam CEO Allard Castelein: "Thanks to this shuttle, we are now adding a fast connection by land. We strongly believe in this concept, partly because a large part of Europe can efficiently be reached via the excellent short sea connections from Rotterdam. And vice versa, of course."

Source:Shipping Online.cn