The emergency rescue site of sea rail intermodal transportation can still "one box to the end", and the roll on/roll off wheels are not enough! The export of new energy vehicles is soaring, but they call for pain. | Port | Shanghai | River Sea Intermodal Transport | Sea Rail Intermodal Transport | Export | New energy vehicles | Domestic | Ro/Ro wheels

A batch of containers loaded with SAIC Maxus new energy vehicles departed from Wuxi West Station Railway Freight Yard on the sea rail intermodal train and arrived at Shanghai Luchao Port Container Center Station in the early morning of August 30th. They then boarded the ocean going cargo ship Changwang, which was already anchored at Yangshan Port, and were about to depart for the Americas. This batch of goods is the first batch of exported new energy vehicles to be transported to the port by domestic railway in Yangshan Customs District. Yangshan Customs actively connects with multiple units such as enterprises and container center stations, prepares contingency plans in advance, cooperates with enterprises to complete dangerous goods customs declaration, and ensures that the goods are loaded and shipped out as soon as they arrive at the port.

SAIC Maxus New Energy Vehicles are being packed at the Wuxi West Railway Freight Yard in Jiangsu Province

The sea rail intermodal train arrives at Shanghai Luchao Port Container Center Station

This marks that after the river sea intermodal transportation, Shanghai Port has opened up a fast export channel for new energy vehicles through sea rail intermodal transportation.

According to statistics from Shanghai Customs, in the first seven months of this year, Shanghai ports exported 1.022 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 54.8%, ranking first among all ports in the country. Among them, the Haitong Port in Waigaoqiao Port area has 2 to 3 car Ro/Ro ships departing almost every day, and the Nangang Port located in the Lingang New Area is also striving to undertake the car Ro/Ro ship business, with new energy vehicles exported accounting for up to 80%. With the continuous surge in automobile exports at the Shanghai port, the capacity of roll on/roll off ships is becoming increasingly tight, and the supply of berths and parking spaces inside the roll on/roll off ships is in short supply. Domestic new energy vehicles are eager for new export transportation channels.

Almost every day, 2 to 3 car roll on/roll off ships depart from Haitong Port in Waigaoqiao Port Area

Export of new energy vehicles at Nangang Port

Sea rail intermodal transportation is undoubtedly a new option, where goods are loaded into containers, transported by rail to the port, and then loaded onto ocean going ships for export. In fact, sea rail intermodal transportation has been widely used for various goods, but new energy vehicles are more unique. Yang Xin, deputy captain of the Lingang Maritime Patrol Law Enforcement Brigade of the Maritime Safety Administration of Yangshan Port, told reporters that lithium batteries in new energy vehicles pose certain risks in sealed containers. According to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Regulations of the World Maritime Organization, new energy vehicles in sea transportation belong to Class 9 dangerous goods. "Previously, some companies attempted to export new energy vehicles through sea rail intermodal transportation. However, after the vehicles arrived in Shanghai by railway, they had to enter a specialized dangerous goods loading area at Shanghai Port for unpacking, re packing and labeling according to the transportation standards for dangerous goods by sea. After being supervised and confirmed by the maritime department, electronic packing documents were issued for the goods to enter the port. Secondary packing increased the company's site operation and time costs, and even delayed the shipping schedule."

Can enterprises reduce their hassle and achieve multimodal transportation with "one box to the end"? Moving the hazardous goods supervision site to the railway origin and shipment site may be a solution. Yang Xin introduced that starting from the pain points of enterprises, the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration uses remote packing services to provide guidance on the shipment of dangerous goods for this batch of new energy vehicles at the Wuxi West Station Railway Freight Yard, ensuring that the goods are strictly packed in accordance with international standards, and timely issuance of electronic packing documents. It also opens up a green channel, allowing the batch of goods to seamlessly connect with the declaration of dangerous goods by sea after arriving at the port, thus achieving "three advancements" - advance of dangerous goods packing location, advance of safety packing supervision services, and advance of declaration approval processing time.

SAIC Maxus New Energy Vehicles are being packed at the Wuxi West Railway Freight Yard in Jiangsu Province

Law enforcement officers from the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration provide remote guidance on the packaging of new energy vehicles

The person in charge of Shanghai Port Sea Rail Intermodal Transport Co., Ltd., who specifically operated this order, introduced that this batch of goods has testing properties, consisting of 3 containers and a total of 6 new energy vehicles. According to preliminary calculations, it can save 15% of transportation costs compared to traditional processes and shorten time by 50%. At present, the company is still expanding its sea rail intermodal transportation business as a major exporter of new energy vehicles in cities such as Changzhou, Hefei, and Zhejiang. The scale effect and cost advantage are expected to be further highlighted in the later stage. The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration has also stated that wherever the export business of new energy vehicles for Shanghai Port's sea rail intermodal transportation expands, relevant supervision and services will be extended.

According to the reporter's understanding, compared to the roll on/roll off wheels that can load thousands of cars for export at once, container liner export vehicles still have advantages. Container liner services are dense, with multiple berths and routes at the port, and ship speeds are also faster. In addition, the current container liner freight rates have fallen to about one eighth of the peak of the 2020 pandemic. Taking North America as an example, the current freight rate for each 40 foot container is around $1000. Therefore, sea rail intermodal transportation and river sea intermodal transportation are effective supplements to the main transportation modes of new energy vehicles.

Container liner freight rates have fallen