INTERNATIONAL: Korea Railroad Corp has signed an agreement with China National Railway Group to facilitate freight shipments between South Korea, Central Asia and Europe.
Inked at the CR headquarters in Beijing on June 25 by Korail President & CEO Han Moon-Hee and Chairman of China National Railway Group Liu Zhenfang, the agreement provides for containerised cargo to be taken by sea from Busan to the Chinese port of Lianyungang, from where rail takes over for the rest of the trip to Central Asian and European destinations. The arrangements were established with the help of OSJD, the Organisation for Co-operation Between Railways.
Korail and CR agreed to co-operate in enhancing the competitiveness of rail transport between Korea, Central Asia and Europe and to work together to develop the market. Under the terms of the agreement, intermodal block trains will be granted priority path allocation and measures will be taken to reduce customs delays. The two organisations will also carry out joint research and exchange technology and personnel.
On June 26 Korail and CR staged a commemorative event in Lianyungang to mark signature of the agreement, dispatching a pilot train formed of 55 container wagons carrying Korean export goods to Toshkent, capital of Uzbekistan. The train was loaded with 40 ft boxes carrying car components and domestic appliances from Obong in Korea’s Gyeonggi province and the 6 852 km journey took 24 days.
Regular services are due to be launched later this year, with customers able to take advantage of OSJD procedures that allow use of a single standard waybill for the trip. This is expected to reduce delays, which in the past have seen shipments on this or similar routes take up to six months during busy periods.
In a related move, Korail has set up a multinational consultative body to oversee the OSJD arrangements. This embraces rail operators in China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, four logistics companies and several other organisations.
Last year the South Korean government had laid the foundation for the agreement by signing the conventions for International Railway Freight Transport (SMGS) and International Railway Passenger Transport (SMPS), as well as the OSJD Multimodal Transport Agreement.
Korail President & CEO Han Moon-Hee said that ‘this international multimodal transport pilot project is a great achievement of railway co-operation between Korea and China’.
