GENT, Belgium: July 04, 2019. The first train with Volvo China car exports has arrived in Gent from Xi’an. Volume is forecast at 40,000 units a year based on several rail services a week.

Delivery is based on an integrated hybrid concept developed by automotive logistics company ARS Altmann and Intermodal Container Logistics Vienna (ICL).

ARS Altmann and ICL will operate covered, double-deck car transport wagons between Belgium and Poland and 40-foot containers between Poland and China. The service takes 18 days and routes via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland.

"Customers benefit from the advantages of rail transport with more reliable and shorter throughput times and far greater sustainability and climate compatibility compared to sea freight with both solutions," commented Frank Lehner, ARS Altmann director of Internationalisation.

"In recent years, the Chinese automobile market has gained enormous importance for European OEMs. At the same time, the export volumes of vehicles produced in China by international manufacturers and the exports of electric vehicles by up-and-coming Chinese manufacturers are on the rise.,” he added.

The company’s medium-term goal is to establish covered automobile transport wagons as a fixed component of transports on the New Silk Road, according to Lehner: "We are currently in talks with potential customers from Europe and China, but also from Korea and Russia in order to win them over to the New Silk Road."