OOCL's New Rail-Sea Service Links China with U.S. East Coast

Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has become the first ocean carrier to offer a new rail-sea service connecting China with the U.S. East Coast to avoid congestion at ports.

The new multi-modal container service combines OOCL’s Logistic’s “Chang An” China-Europe rail service with OOCL’s Liner Services for ocean transport across the Atlantic.

The train leaves the station at Xian, China and travels across the Asia-Europe “land bridge” to Kaliningrad, Russia. From there, there’s onward feeder service to Bremerhaven, Germany where containers will be loaded onto a ship bound for U.S. East Coast ports.

OOCL said its intention is “to provide reliable and timely shipment by seizing the opportunity to avoid the current high levels of traffic seen on routes to the US West Coast and through the Panama Canal.

“By leveraging OOCL’s strengths of its own fleet of equipment and its competitiveness on the Transatlantic trade with OOCL Logistics’ end-to-end capabilities, this product innovation is a fantastic demonstration of the synergy between OOCL and OOCL Logistics. This new block train product is also a clear sign of the commitment of OOCL Group to their customers, showing their dedication to meeting customers’ needs, as well as the ability to adapt rapidly in this unprecedented and fast-moving environment,” the company said.