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Leading European Logistics Firm Expanding Silk Road Transports

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EIRNS—GEFCO (Groupages express de Franche-Comté), a leading automobile logistics operator in Europe, based in France, is beginning transport of cars and car parts for Germany’s BMW between Regensburg and Chengdu (central China), along a rail freight route tested successfully in November 2015. GEFCO sees itself particularly well placed to develop Europe-China rail services, as its majority shareholder is Russian Railways, RDZ, which acquired a majority of shares in 2012 from the firm’s then-owner, Peugeot.

Paul Donaldson, managing director at Trans-Rak, which cooperates with GEFCO on this route, said: "The challenge for automotive manufacturers exporting into vast regions like China has been that from the big ports ... there is a lack of infrastructure." Vehicles have so far been shipped to the seaports instead, but the opening of a new Inland Freight Terminal in Chongqing (central China) has for the first time established a direct China-Europe rail connection, along which, cargo transport takes half the time as by sea, GEFCO points out.