More Shippers Switch to Rail over Air

International Freight Forwarders are reporting an increase in the number of customers using rail as an alternative to air on China-Europe shipments.

Rising airfreight rates caused by a Covid-19-related capacity crunch has pushed shippers to look to alternative modes of transport.

There is a growing realisation from supply chain managers that traditionally move freight by air that they only need to factor in the slightly longer lead times for delivery by rail, to see a significant cost saving by using rail as an alternative mode. Importers using airfreight that are able to redesign their supply chains to use the rail freight option may do so on a permanent basis especially as service providers fine tune their service offering to make a further reduction in the total transit time using multi-modalism as well offering higher frequency.