Suez Canal blockage spurs transportation debate

When the Suez Canal was blocked and it was not known when it would be cleared, daily inquiries for China-Europe freight trains more than tripled on YQNLink, Zhou added.

Freight forwarder T. H. I. Group (Shanghai) saw China-Europe freight train orders placed while the waterway was blocked rise between 30 percent and 40 percent compared with the previous week.

Kong Weidong, executive vice-president of the company's railway business unit, said, "Due to limited storage space, our clients have to make reservations 20 days in advance.

"All our freight trains were fully loaded and continued to operate during Spring Festival. On Feb 17, we set a record, with 10 freight trains departing from Yiwu on a single day.

"It typically takes between 30 and 40 days for goods to arrive in northern Europe by sea, but about half this time by freight trains," Zhou said. He added that such trains operating between China and Europe are the "most cost-effective transportation solution".

Nationwide, freight trains made 12,400 journeys and transported 1.14 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of cargo last year, respective year-on-year rises of 50 percent and 56 percent.