Session of CCTT Working group on improving the competitiveness of ITC East – West

The Session of CCTT Working Group on increasing the competitiveness of ITC East – West was held on May 15, 2020 under the chairmanship of A. N. Grom, General Director of JSC UTLC ERA, and Uwe Leuschner, Senior Vice President of DB Cargo AG.

The conference was attended by representatives and managers of railways in Russia, China, Europe, CIS countries and seaports in Europe and the Baltic States, operators and freight forwarders interested in the development of railway container transportation on the international transport corridor ITC East-West.

The presentations highlighted the current situation in rail transport caused by the coronavirus pandemic situation and the necessary measures of developing container transportation by rail in the China – Europe – China.

Participants of the videoconference discussed the issues of increasing the volume of cargo transportation in containers, transit time, tariff conditions, as well as expanding the geography of transportation, and also expressed their proposals for the development of new railway and multimodal container services, predicted further development paths and growth rates of container services for the current year.

Participants' recommendations on developing container services, creating new routes and increasing container cargo traffic will help participants of the railway transport market and stakeholders to form and correctly set priorities, respond the emerging difficulties, find solutions and jointly fight the consequences of coronavirus.