In the case of tight sea and air transportation capacity, the Yiwu to Madrid railway line has become the choice of more and more people. It is the seventh railway connecting China and Europe and is part of the New Silk Road.
1. Overview of the route from Yiwu to Madrid
The Yiwu to Madrid Railway opened on November 18, 2014, with a total length of 13,052 kilometers, which is the longest freight train route in the world. The route departs from Yiwu China, passes through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, and finally reaches Madrid, Spain. It has a total of 41 carriages, can carry 82 containers, and has a total length of more than 550 meters.
Every year, the Yiwu to Madrid route carries nearly 2,000 products including daily necessities, clothing, luggage, hardware tools, and electronic products from Yiwu to countries along the route. The products leaving Madrid are mainly agricultural products, including olive oil, ham, red wine, pork products, skin care products, and nutritional health products. If you want to easily import all kinds of products from China, then finding a professional Chinese sourcing agent is your best choice.
2. Why choose Yiwu and Madrid as the starting and ending points
As we all know, Yiwu is China's wholesale center, has the world's largest small commodity wholesale market. 60% of Christmas ornaments in the world come from Yiwu. It is also one of the main purchasing centers for toys and textiles, electronic products and auto parts, which can meet the needs of customers for centralized purchasing. In addition, Yiwu skilled shipping workers can create more benefits for you. For example, the volume of a container is 40 cubic meters. In other places, workers can load up to 40 cubic meters of goods. In Yiwu, professional and skilled workers can load 43 or even 45 cubic meters of cargo.
At the end of the route, Madrid Spain, has a large number of overseas Chinese business resources to support the supply of this train. As many as 1.445 million overseas Zhejiang merchants know the Yiwu market very well and are an important force in the import and export of Yiwu market. Three-quarters of the small commodities sold in the Spanish market are from Yiwu. Madrid is also known as the European Commodity Center.
China is Spain's main business and economic partner in Asia, and it is also the main destination for Spain's exports in the region. Choose Yiwu and Madrid as the starting and ending points to better connect the world's largest consumer goods wholesale market with European commodity centers.
3. Achievements and significance of the route from Yiwu to Madrid
The Yiwu to Madrid Railway is an important carrier and platform of the “Belt and Road” initiative. In addition to greatly stimulating the import and export trade between Yiwu and the countries along the route, it also shines as a "green channel" on the global anti-epidemic arena. The traffic green channel is conducive to alleviating traffic pressure, speeding up customs clearance, reducing customs clearance procedures, and playing a key role in the process of transporting medical supplies and other goods to Spain.
From January to May of 2021, China shipped a total of 12,524 tons of anti-epidemic materials to European countries by train. In 2020, Yiwu handled 1,399 China-Europe freight trains via the freight route connecting Xinjiang in northwestern China with Europe, a year-on-year increase of 165%.
4. Advantages of Yiwu to Madrid route
1. Timeliness: It only takes 21 days to go directly to Madrid, Spain, with fast customs clearance, and customs clearance can be completed within 1 to 2 working days at the fastest. By sea, it usually takes 6 weeks to arrive.
2. Price: In terms of price, it is slightly higher than sea freight, but it is nearly 2/3 cheaper than air freight.
3. Stability: Maritime transportation is greatly affected by weather conditions on sea routes, and there are often various unexpected factors. Other conditions, including port conditions, may cause cargo delays. China-Europe Express train transportation can better solve this problem.
4. High service flexibility: China-Europe Express provides door-to-door service across the EU, as well as FCL and LCL, classic and dangerous goods, and accepts more types of goods than sea and air. It is very suitable for transporting high-value industrial products such as auto parts, electronic products and computer equipment. It is also suitable for promotional and seasonal products that need to reach their destination as soon as possible.
5. Environmentally friendly, less pollution.
6. The railway transportation is stable and sufficient, and the transportation cycle is short. Compared with sea containers, which are “difficult to find”, air transportation is “fuse”, and railway transportation can control the time. Yiwu to Madrid has 1 to 2 columns per week, and Madrid to Yiwu has 1 column per month.
7. Can increase the selectivity of supply. Because the Yiwu-Madrid route passes through many countries, it is more convenient to purchase specialty products from these countries.
Note: Due to incompatible gauges, the goods have to be transshipped 3 times during the journey. Locomotives must also be replaced every 500 miles. The train changed three times along the way due to different gauges in China, Europe and Russia. Each container transfer only takes one minute.
The speed of customs clearance of China-Europe Express is faster than that of ocean freight, but in the same way, you also need to submit customs clearance information:
1. Railway waybill, a freight document issued by the railway carrier.
2. Goods packing list
3. One copy of the contract
4. Invoice
5. Customs declaration documents (specification/packing list)
6. One copy of the power of attorney for inspection application
Next are several factors that may affect the speed of customs clearance:
1. After preparing the corresponding customs clearance information, fail to fill in the consignee and harvest information truthfully
2. The contents of the packing list are not consistent with the contents of the waybill
(Including: shipper, consignee, loading port, destination/unloading port, mark and part number, cargo name and customs code, number of pieces, weight, size and volume of a single piece of cargo, etc.)
3. The goods are seized
4. There are prohibited products in the goods
(A, IT products such as mobile phones and computers
(B, clothing, shoes and hats
(C, cars and accessories
(D. Grain, wine, coffee beans
(E, material, furniture
(F, chemicals, machinery and equipment, etc.
If taxes and fees are incurred, they need to be paid in time. Otherwise, the goods will not be transported and need to be confirmed and processed in time. You can also confirm whether the tax and fee processing services are included when the entrusted freight forwarder is suitable.
Relatively speaking, generally larger freight forwarding companies will have more guaranteed service, but relatively small freight forwarding companies also have its advantages. They may have a relatively high cost performance. This depends on your choice. You can choose from service and transportation cycle. And the customs clearance ability and the price are considered in many aspects.
Good packaging is a prerequisite to ensure the safety of goods
Next, classify according to carton goods, box goods, and special goods
I have sorted out the packaging requirements for cargo transportation through China-Europe Express trains.
1. Carton packaging standard:
1. There is no deformation, no damage, and no openings in the carton rules;
2. The carton is free from dampness or dampness;
3. No pollution or greasy outside the carton;
4. The carton is completely sealed;
5. The carton is clearly marked, indicating the nature of the goods and packing requirements;
2. Packing standard of wooden box pallet goods:
1. The tray has no legs, deformation, damage, wetness, etc.;
2. No damage, leaks, oily pollution, etc. on the outside;
3. The load-bearing weight of the bottom support exceeds the weight of the cargo;
4. The outer packaging and the bottom support or the goods are firmly reinforced and self-contained;
5. The goods are completely sealed;
6. Reasonable placement of internal goods, effective reinforcement, and avoid shaking in the packaging;
7. The nature of the goods shall be indicated on the wooden box or pallet, including the following points:
1) Limits on the number of stacked layers and weight;
2) The position of the center of gravity of the cargo;
3) The weight and size of the cargo;
4) Whether it is fragile, etc.;
5) Cargo hazard identification.
It is especially important to note that if the packaging of wooden boxes and pallets is unqualified, it will affect the entire transportation and loading and unloading process. It needs to be inspected from the beginning of the product delivery, and then loaded and transported if it is qualified.
3. Overweight cargo (goods weighing more than 5 tons) packaging and packing requirements
1. The cargo bottom support adopts a four-channel structure, and the cargo pallet meets the requirements of container weight (the maximum load-bearing capacity of a 40-foot container floor is 1 ton square meter, and the maximum load-bearing capacity of a 20-foot container floor is 2 tons/square meter);
2. The strength of the outer packaging is sufficient to support cargo loading and unloading (unloading by crane with bandage) and packing requirements.
3. The strength of the pallet is sufficient to support the weight of the goods, and the wooden strips will not be broken during the unloading and packing process.
4. The bottom of the pallet is flat and there are no screws, nuts or other protruding parts to avoid damage to the container.
5. The packaging of goods meets the packaging standards of wooden box and pallet goods.
Note: If the packaging of the goods is fragile or cannot be stacked, you need to fill in the relevant information truthfully when booking to avoid loss of goods caused by packaging problems. The loss caused by packaging problems will be borne by the shipper.
6. About us
We are a sourcing agent company in China Yiwu, China, with 23 years of experience and familiarity with the entire Chinese market. Provide the best one-stop service to support you from purchasing to shipping. Welcome to contact us.
