Recently, the website of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council published an article titled “7 Days in Advance! China Logistics Efficiently Completes the ‘Railway-Sea’ Combined Transportation of Steel Structures for Ethiopian Projects”, reporting on the vivid practice of Tianjin Company, a subsidiary of China Railway Materials Group, in serving Chinese enterprises to “go global” and providing high-quality logistics solutions for key overseas projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. The full text is reproduced below:

On October 25th, with the successful delivery of the last batch of steel structure goods in Ethiopia, the 18 40-foot containers of the Ethiopian National Convention Center project, which were transported by China Railway Materials Group’s Tianjin Company via “road-rail-sea” multimodal transportation, came to a successful conclusion after 23 days. Compared to the traditional full-sea transportation, the new route saved 7 days and effectively reduced logistics costs.

After being packaged at the Wuhan factory, the batch of goods was delivered to Wuhan Railway Central Station by a fleet of vehicles, and then shipped via railway to Ningbo Port, where it was transferred by sea to Djibouti Port. To ensure the smooth completion of the project, the China Railway Materials team coordinated the transportation of empty railway containers to Wuhan Station 15 days in advance, and synchronized production scheduling with the factory and the fleet. At the same time as the goods were packaged, the fleet completed the container pickup and loading operations. The entire transportation process was managed using a “hourly” node control system, with 24-hour dynamic tracking of key links such as loading at Wuhan Station and customs transfer at Ningbo Port, to ensure seamless connection between each link.

After the goods arrived at Wuhan Station, they suddenly encountered the requirement for upgrading railway reinforcement standards, posing challenges to the transportation work. The team immediately organized logistics operators and factory technicians to tackle the problem on site and innovatively designed a reinforcement scheme combining “cross-force bearing + inclined plane pressure bearing”. The scheme was approved by the railway safety department within just 24 hours, and all containers were modified in a short period of time, ensuring the timely departure of the train. Meanwhile, during the sea transportation stage, the team further deepened cooperation with Ningbo Port and shipping companies, coordinated and adjusted the berthing and unberthing plan of Ningbo Port, ensuring that 18 containers arrived in Ethiopia on schedule, thus gaining valuable time for the timely construction of key projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The successful completion of this task has overcome technical challenges in transnational multimodal transport and accumulated valuable experience that can be replicated and promoted. In the future, China Railway Materials will continue to uphold the professional and efficient service philosophy, providing high-quality logistics solutions for more Chinese enterprises “going global” and key overseas projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative.

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Source: China Logistics