WARSAW, July 5-- Sea port closure and a dramatic surge in air freight fare due to the COVID-19 pandemic had impeded Poland's international logistics. When the country was struggling in the ordeal, China Railway Express (CR Express) ramped up its capacities to deliver the much-needed medical and industrial supplies. ASSISTING IN COMBATING PANDEMIC Like many other industries, Poland's international transport was heavily hit by the coronavirus outbreak, when it was needed more than ever as the country desperately sought medical supplies for the health care system to fight the uNPRecedented pandemic. As shipping by air and sea became either too expensive or too slow, CR Express - the freight trains connecting China and the then epicenter Europe - came to the fore bucking the trend. "We saw a year-on-year increase of around 30 percent for the month of April for containers transported by rail from Chengdu to our terminal in Lodz, a city in central Poland," Marcin Sidorowicz, director of intermodal transport at SPEDCONT, a partner of CR Express in Poland. As one of the most vibrant operations of CR Express, Chengdu-Europe Express Rail has seen constant rise in demand since its launch in 2013. According to Sidorowicz, currently six forty-wagon trains shuttle between Chengdu, southwest China and Lodz on a weekly basis, with a total capacity of more than 6,600 tons. Since the start of the pandemic in Europe, CR Express has been dedicated in transporting medical supplies from China to hard-hit European countries, supplementing cargo planes chartered by the Polish government. "CR Express really performed an indispensable role in combating the coronavirus," Sidorowicz told Xinhua. |