DHL Global Forwarding launches new two-way rail service between Kunming, China and Vientiane, Laos

“The
China-Laos Railway is a historic moment for the region. It strategically places Kunming as a hub for the
Indochina market as the gateway to ASEAN economies,” said Steve Huang, CEO, DHL
Global Forwarding Greater China. “ASEAN has a combined
GDP of US$2.55 trillion
and is predicted to be the fourth largest
single market in the world by 2030. We see a very bright future for trade and economic activity
in the region, which will translate to
increased demand for logistics.”

“China
is ASEAN’s largest trading partner, growing close to 40% year on year. The new rail service connecting
China and Laos will transform Laos from a land-locked country to a land-linked
hub, creating closer trade linkages between Laos and China, and to all
economies in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including ASEAN. Businesses
moving goods between China and ASEAN countries now have a strong viable
alternative between air and ocean freight, and can tap further into DHL’s robust
road freight and multimodal network in the Southeast Asia region,” Thomas
Tieber, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Southeast Asia said.

Peak season relief: Faster, Cheaper
freight from China to ASEAN – Costs up to 50% less than airfreight, with
similar or faster transit times
Leveraging the new railway, DHL’s
scheduled service runs in both directions between China and ASEAN markets, including
Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, providing an
attractive, highly cost efficient alternative in a time when logistics costs
are at an all time high.

The two-way service combines trucking from all over
China to the hub in Kunming, running through the China-Laos railroad, then
onward with DHL’s established road network service  and back, with significant cost savings and
competitive transit times, providing a viable transportation alternative. Examples
of the services include:

• Chengdu – Bangkok – road/rail services are
  78% cheaper and 2 days faster than airfreight
• Kuala Lumpur – Chengdu – road/rail services
  are 70% cheaper, same transit time compared to airfreight
• Shanghai – Singapore – road/rail services
  are 38% cheaper, 4 days longer compared to airfreight

The brand new China-Laos Railway is one of the six
international economic corridors under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The
Laos section of the railway is 414-km that connects Kunming (China) to Boten,
Laos’ northern border with China, to Vientiane in the south, on its border with Thailand. The
route will cut the journey time from Vientiane to the Chinese border to less
than four hours, compared to 15 hours by road. At Boten, the railway will
connect with the BRI network at Kunming, China, through another 595-km railway
link, providing Laos with a land link to global and regional supply chains.

Note to editors:

Find out more about DHL’s road and multimodal logistics
offerings, with its road freight services on the rise
in Southeast Asia, and a rail freight service from Xi’an in China to Hamburg and Neuss in Germany, that
cut transit time down by over 40 percent.  Read more on DHL’s
Logistics of Things.