ATLANTA: March 28, 2017. As ocean capacity gets tight between Asia and Europe, UPS has announced the addition of six destinations to its full and less-than-container load (FCL and LCL) multimodal China-Europe rail service.

In addition to Zhengzhou and Chengdu, the service now includes Changsha, Chongqing, Suzhou and Wuhan in China, and Duisburg and Warsaw as well as Hamburg and Lodz in Germany and Poland respectively.

The company says the stations in China were chosen for their proximity to provincial industrial manufacturing, commercial and cultural centers. In Europe, Duisburg is in the heart of Germany's industrial Ruhr area with access to river, rail, road and air transport; while Warsaw is a growing center for eCommerce fulfillment, research & development and industrial manufacturing.

"Our China-Europe rail services can save customers up to 65 percent versus airfreight and improve time-in-transit by 40 percent versus traditional ocean freight service," said Cindy Miller, president of UPS Global Freight Forwarding. "By giving our customers more options to balance cost and speed of delivery, UPS is committed to helping businesses in China and Europe succeed and expand."

The UPS China-Europe rail service provides customers with FCL and LCL in both directions; closed circuit TV monitoring during train transition, seal management, alarms, plus optional GPS container tracking; Customs clearance limited to China and European import/export countries; and end-to-end shipment visibility.

The company said other rail benefits include the optional use of thermal liners, pallet covers and diesel-powered reefer (heated) containers; and emitting 25 times less CO2 than airfreight as well as "significantly less nitrogen oxide, non-methane hydrocarbon and sulfur dioxide than ocean transportation".