With China’s Golden Week holiday in full swing, the ongoing issues affecting oceanfreight container imports into the UK from the Far East is making Davies Turner’s direct Express China Rail overland service even more attractive.

Tony Cole, head of supply chain services at the UK’s leading independent freight and logistics company says: “UK importers are facing a tsunami of container shipping issues at present. 

“Schedule disruption; ongoing delays in vessel discharge and loading, which is leading to ships ‘cutting and running’ or diverting; prolonged turnaround times on the quay; shortages of dock labour and container haulage, as well as import containers missing planned connections to rail, has resulted in a surge of interest for our direct express LCL & FCL rail service from China to the UK.

“Unlike the ocean freight alternative, there are no disruptions affecting the overland rail service, which typically saves clients up to 22 days and which currently could save more. And with Golden Week shut down now upon us, rail could help to keep our clients’ supply chains running.

“In the oceanfreight environment, we also understand that additional delays are being encountered by companies that use third party port warehouses to unpack their consol containers, a costly addition in time.

“At Davies Turner unpacking and customs clearance of consol (LCL) containers takes place at our own depots in Birmingham, Bristol, Dartford, Glasgow and Manchester, ensuring that we have a facility local to our UK customer base to enable fast and competitive delivery their door.”