Via its new subsidiary in China, ÖBB Rail Cargo Group will operate its entire logistics value chain, including additional freight forwarding services in Asia - from trucking to customs clearance, transshipment, etc.
RCG CEO Clemens Först emphasizes: "The new RCG company in Shanghai strengthens our sales activities and reduces our dependence on external partners in China. This is quite crucial, as China business is almost exclusively done locally," and adds: "In addition, we want to expand our successful development along the New Silk Road by pushing the routing via the Central Corridor."
RCG's network (TransNET) stretches across the entire Eurasian continent to China. Until the outbreak of the Ukraine war, the so-called Northern Corridor (i.e. from China via Russia to Central and South-Eastern Europe) was primarily used for transport along the New Silk Road. As an alternative, ÖBB Rail Cargo Group has been pushing the Central Corridor (i.e. from China through Kazakhstan via Azerbaijan/Georgia and the Black Sea to Romania and on to Central and South-Eastern Europe) since March 2022.
Every year, around 600 trains are operated by RCG along the routes of the New Silk Road.