DHL Global Forwarding has added Taiwan to its North Asia multimodal network, offering a connection to Europe via mainland China.

“Imports and exports form the main source of Taiwan's economic growth momentum,” said Charles Kaufmann, CEO of North Asia and head of value-added services at DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific. “Taiwan's foreign trade amounted to US$588 billion in 2014 with exports and trade surplus hitting a new high. With a foreign trade dependence rate of 111% and 20^th ranking in the leading exporters and importers in world merchandise trade, it is important that Taiwan remains closely integrated into the global trade network to maintain competitiveness.”

The sea link between Taiwan and mainland China offers DHL’s full-container load door-to-door service. It will also connect the port of Taichung with Shanghai, and further on to Warsaw by rail via Suzhou, where DHL says more than 10,000 Taiwan-funded export-oriented companies are located.

Kenny Mok, managing director of DHL Global Forwarding Taiwan, said that the country’s industries will need to rely on highly specialized global logistics services to meet the requirements of international trade.

“The combination of cost-efficient and faster access to markets offered by our multimodal service has created business opportunities for customers in many industries and enhanced their competitive edge,” said Mok. “We know that this innovative solution will also appeal to Taiwanese exporters and importers as they capitalize on the growth opportunities.”

According to DHL, the new multimodal Taiwan-China-Europe service results in costs savings of up to 85% and a reduction of CO₂ emissions by up to 90% compared with air freight. Transit times will also decrease by between 10 and 21 days compared to just using sea freight.

DHL already operates three services in its China-Europe multimodal network.