Kerry Logistics has become the first logistics service provider based in Asia to use the first eastbound freight train from the UK to China.

The train, which first set off from Yiwu in the eastern province of Zhejiang on January 1, 2017, arrived at Barking in East London after an 18-day journey, carrying clothes, shoes and other consumer goods. Its eastbound journey is also expected to take around 18 days, passing through France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan.

“We are extremely excited to be the first Asia-based global 3PL to move eastbound freight from Europe along the One Belt One Road trade route, turning part of the roadmap into reality,” said William Ma, group managing director of Kerry Logistics. “We are committed to developing an overland transportation network for road, rail and multimodal freight services in China to Central Asia and Europe. We will leverage our global international freight forwarding network to provide end-to-end and cost-effective logistics solutions to connect China with Europe and Asia via air, road, rail and sea.”

London is the 15^th city in Europe to be served by China Railways’ freight trains.