APL exec calls for expansion of China's freight rail service

China’s inter-modal rail system holds the key to opening the country’s interior to increased export production, said APL North Asia president Ken Glenn, according to the Manila Bulletin.

The expansion of freight rail service will attract increased investment to Western and Central China, regions coveted for their lower manufacturing costs, said Glenn.

“It is our belief that with expanded infrastructure, the rate of investment in these regions will accelerate and grow at a faster rate than China overall,” he told an audience attending the China Chongqing International Investment and Global Sourcing Fair.

APL pioneered intermodal rail transport for containerised cargo in the US during the 1980s. In 2007, sister company APL Logistics introduced IndiaLinx, that country’s first private freight rail system.

Since then it has also established an intermodal rail service in Egypt.

“We will look for opportunities here to connect China’s interior with the coastal regions,” Glenn said.

Historically, most Chinese exports have been produced in the country’s coastal areas. But Glenn said manufacturers will increasingly move west as capacity, frequency and the quality of rail connections between the interior and China’s seaports improve.

He added that railroads are less expensive and produce fewer emissions than trucks and provide greater flexibility than river barges.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)