Supply chain specialist Tigers has launched a rail freight service between Hefei, Chongqing and Chengdu in China and Duisburg, Germany.

Called Tiger Rail, the new service offers customers a transit time of 16 days in both directions. Customers can charter a train, or book full-container-load or less-than-container-load shipments on weekly scheduled services to and from over 15 origin stations in China. Track and trace is available on the Tiger Trax platform.

“We have seized the opportunity to provide integrated logistics for our customers, who increasingly require shorter transit times than ocean freight, and lower costs than air freight, making Tiger Rail the perfect solution,” said Paul Huang [left in photo], managing director of Tigers China. “Our customers benefit from lower shipping costs by empty container return in Switzerland for westbound services, and Shipper’s Own Container for eastbound services, for both FCL and LCL. Tigers has already supported customers to transport over 500 TEUs as FCL, and 1500 cubic metres as LCL along the new Silk Road.”

Tigers also plans to extend the service to e-commerce customers shipping parcels from Europe to China.

“We are currently preparing test shipments for European Union business-to-consumer parcels importing to China with Tiger Rail, and look forward to expanding our rail freight capabilities even further,” said Andrew Jillings, chief executive officer and group managing director of Tigers.

The inaugural shipment took place over the summer, consisting of construction materials, auto parts and electronics on behalf of one of one of the largest manufacturers of exhaust and suspension systems, according to Tigers.