TransContainer has launched a new rail-sea service that links Wuhan and Mukran via the Ust-Luga Container Terminal.

The shipments travel via the border crossing in Zabaykalsk towards St. Petersburg and then Ust-Luga, where the load tranships onto a vessel heading to Mukran Port.

The service’s transit time is 21 days, including nine for the overland passage in Russia and three for the sea leg.

TransContainer Freight Forwarding (Shanghai) is responsible for transportation in China, TransContainer in Russia, Ruscon for freight forwarding and agent services in Ust-Luga, and Baltic Sea Bridge for the sea crossing.

“The route from Wuhan to Mukran via Ust-Luga Container Terminal was the first one where TransContainer started using unified CIM/SMGS consignment note. Its usage allows speeding up the cargo handling process at borders and at ports, as well as reducing the cost of transportation and the number of shipping documents,” Vladimir Khlutkov, Asia-Pacific Business Development Director, TransContainer, underlined.

He furthered, “In the future, we plan to dispatch cargo from China to Germany with the use of a unified consignment note three-four times a month.”

About CIM/SMGS

A unified CIM/SMGS consignment note is executed for the entire route through the territory of the countries applying the corresponding document, and it allows avoiding idling at border crossing points, as well as reducing the risk of mistakes when reissuing documents.

The CIM international railway consignment note is used for railway and multimodal cargo transportation of goods in the EU countries, as well as in some countries in Asia and Africa. In Russia and other countries of 1520 area, where transportation is regulated by the Agreement on International Freight Traffic, the SMGS consignment note is used. Due to this discrepancy on the international routes, it is necessary to reissue the consignment note when crossing borders. The unified consignment note can only be applied on directions declared by participants of both legal systems. In Russia, these are the port sections of the Oktyabrskaya and Kaliningradskaya railways.

Source: TransContainer