At this time, intermodal rail is being considered as a form of transport suitable for China’s epidemic prevention and control conditions because there is little contact between people. Besides, it can transport a much larger amount of goods compared to road.
In the Resolution of the Government’s regular meeting in February, the Government also asked the Ministry of Transport to direct the railway industry to quickly find solutions to improve international freight transport capacity. The effect is clearly seen because data from the Vietnam Railways Corporation shows that, in the first quarter of this year, international freight traffic increased by 40% over the same period last year.
After cross-border road transport faced many difficulties, since the beginning of this year, Crystal Logistics Co., Ltd has chosen railway as an alternative means of transporting goods. Every month, about 100 containers are transported by rail. Business representatives said that in the coming time, this output will increase.
“Rail freight has helped handle part of our cargo. However, if the travel time is shortened, we will be able to add more goods, reaching about 1,000 containers this year”, Mr. Chan Kwok Ming – Director of Logistics Crystal Co., Ltd said.
The international rail freight route from Vietnam to China and to European countries has experienced a remarkable growth rate. Representatives of railway logistics enterprises said that from the middle of last year until now, goods on this route have sometimes increased by 200% over the same period. However, there are still many obstacles to be able to meet the actual demand.
Mr. Mai Hoang Long – Deputy General Director of Railway Commercial Transport Joint Stock Company said: “On the route from Hanoi to Dong Dang, the yard system to meet container transportation is also limited, so in the past period, the sudden increase in output compared to the same period has affected the stagnation of containers on the road.”.
The international freight forwarding space is assessed to continue to grow strongly in the coming time. If the railway invests in equipment and promotes the shipping of refrigerated containers, it will also attract more shippers and logistics businesses.
The potential for development is clear, but many bottlenecks in wharf infrastructure, rails, and loading and unloading equipment that have existed for many years are hindering the development of railway transport. Therefore, finding solutions to gradually remove these difficulties is considered a problem that urgently needs to be solved.
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Source: Vietnam Insider