- \n
- DHL, the first international forwarder, commences
\npioneering operations on the brand new China-Laos railway<\/li>\n - Relief for peak season logistics rates with
\ncosts up to 50% less than airfreight with similar transit times <\/li>\n - Vientiane and Kunming are well-positioned as
\nmultimodal hubs for China-ASEAN trade <\/li>\n<\/ul>\nSHANGHAI, CHINA\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0Media OutReach<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a03 December 2021 –<\/span><\/span>\u00a0DHL Global
\nForwarding, the leading international freight specialist division of Deutsche
\nPost DHL Group, \u00a0is the first
\ninternational forwarder to launch a two-way rail freight service between
\nKunming, China and Vientiane, Laos, via the newly opened China-Laos railway.
\nThe rail service is first-of-its-kind in the market, shortening transit time
\nbetween Kunming and Vientiane from two days via road to about \u00a020 \u2013 24 hours. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/images.media-outreach.com\/Thumb\/500x0\/202659\/DHL-Train.jpg#image-202659\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/images.media-outreach.com\/Thumb\/400x0\/202904\/Infographic-1-.jpg#image-202904\")
<\/p>\nDHL’s new two-way rail service will cut transit time between Kunming and Vientiane from 2 days to 20-24 hours<\/span><\/h6>\n
![](\"https:\/\/images.media-outreach.com\/Thumb\/400x0\/202911\/Backgrounder.jpg#image-202911\")
<\/p>\nFaster, cheaper freight between China and Southeast Asia<\/span><\/h6>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rail-truck solution
\nbetween China & Southeast Asia: Hubs in Kunming and Vientiane <\/b>“The
\nChina-Laos Railway is a historic moment for the region. It strategically places Kunming as a hub for the
\nIndochina market as the gateway to ASEAN economies,” said Steve Huang, CEO, DHL
\nGlobal Forwarding Greater China. “ASEAN has a combined
\nGDP of US$2.55<\/a> trillion
\nand is predicted to be the fourth largest
\nsingle market in the world by 2030. We see a very bright future for trade and economic activity
\nin the region, which will translate to
\nincreased demand for logistics.”<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
“China
\nis ASEAN’s largest trading partner, growing close to 40% year on year<\/a>. The new rail service connecting
\nChina and Laos will transform Laos from a land-locked country to a land-linked
\nhub, creating closer trade linkages between Laos and China, and to all
\neconomies in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including ASEAN. Businesses
\nmoving goods between China and ASEAN countries now have a strong viable
\nalternative between air and ocean freight, and can tap further into DHL’s robust
\nroad freight and multimodal network in the Southeast Asia region,” Thomas
\nTieber, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Southeast Asia said. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peak season relief: Faster, Cheaper
\nfreight from China to ASEAN – Costs up to 50% less than airfreight, with
\nsimilar or faster transit times
<\/b>Leveraging the new railway, DHL’s
\nscheduled service runs in both directions between China and ASEAN markets, including
\nThailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, providing an
\nattractive, highly cost efficient alternative in a time when logistics costs
\nare at an all time high. <\/p>\nThe two-way service combines trucking from all over
\nChina to the hub in Kunming, running through the China-Laos railroad, then
\nonward with DHL’s established road network service \u00a0and back, with significant cost savings and
\ncompetitive transit times, providing a viable transportation alternative. Examples
\nof the services include:<\/p>\n- \n
- Chengdu – Bangkok \u2013 road\/rail services are
\n78% cheaper and 2 days faster than airfreight <\/li>\n - Kuala Lumpur – Chengdu – road\/rail services
\nare 70% cheaper, same transit time compared to airfreight <\/li>\n - Shanghai \u2013 Singapore – road\/rail services
\nare 38% cheaper, 4 days longer compared to airfreight <\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe brand new China-Laos Railway is one of the six
\ninternational economic corridors under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The
\nLaos section of the railway is 414-km that connects Kunming (China) to Boten,
\nLaos’ northern border with China, to Vientiane in the south, on its border with Thailand. The
\nroute will cut the journey time from Vientiane to the Chinese border to less
\nthan four hours, compared to 15 hours by road. At Boten, the railway will
\nconnect with the BRI network at Kunming, China, through another 595-km railway
\nlink, providing Laos with a land link to global and regional supply chains. <\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Note to editors:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Find out more about DHL’s road and multimodal logistics
\nofferings, with its <\/i>road freight services<\/i><\/a> on the rise
\nin Southeast Asia, and a <\/i>rail freight service<\/i><\/a> <\/i>from Xi’an in China to Hamburg and Neuss in Germany, that
\ncut transit time down by over 40 percent. \u00a0<\/i>Read more<\/i> on DHL’s
\nLogistics of Things.<\/i><\/p>\n
- Chengdu – Bangkok \u2013 road\/rail services are