Source: https://intermodalnews.pl/2026/04/27/ozywienie-w-przewozach-na-nowym-jedwabnym-szlaku/
By Łukasz Kuś, 2026/04/27
The first quarter of 2026 brought an increase in rail transport on intermodal routes linking China to Europe. On the New Silk Road, 85 496 TEUs were transported – 35.7% more than in the same period of ours.
From January to March this year, trains running from China to Poland carried 73 782 TEU – almost 40% more than in 2025. Good growth dynamics have also been recorded in the opposite direction. The volume of container cargo from Poland to China increased by 160% and amounted to 4224.
In other accounts, smaller quantities of cargo were transported. From China to Germany, 3092 TEUs were transported by 6.9% more than in 2025. In turn, export transport from Germany towards the Middle Kingdom decreased by almost half and amounted to 3634 TEU. Our western neighbour still remains a European country whose exports on the New Silk Road exceed imports. In addition to Poland and Germany, transports between Asia and the Netherlands and Belgium were also carried out in the first quarter, but significantly smaller quantities of containers were transported in these directions. From China to the Netherlands, 108 TEUs were transported, and from Belgium to China 656 TEU – almost 2 times more than in the Philippines.
In the first quarter, the average journey time of trains from China to Europe increased and amounted to 18.36 days – it took so long to transport containers from Asia to Poland. Longer transit time was recorded for trains going further west – for transporting China to Germany it was 20 days and 22 days to the Netherlands. The average freight cost on NJS, measured by the ERAI index, was 3 673 dollars and was slightly higher than at the end of the year.
More trains on the New Silk Road
From the beginning of the year to April 24, more than 3000 trains have already been set up from the Chinese terminal Horgos near the border with Kazakhstan. That number was reached earlier than last year. On average, 27 trains depart every day from Horgos in the western direction. This number includes warehouses sent both to the European Union, mainly through the Polish-Belarusian border crossing of Brest — Terespol and trains to Central Asian countries.
Horgos also saw an increase in rail transport in import relations. China imports m.in. metal ores and food products from Kazakhstan. The customs administration of the border region of Xinjiang Uygur reported that this year's proceeds from the customs duties of the office in Horgos amounted to almost 10 billion dollars and were 36% higher than in the first quarter of the year.
Since the start of the New Silk Road railway, more than 55 thousand trains from Horgos have been checked in towards Central Asia and Europe. Currently, this dry port serves 91 connections covering 46 cities in 18 countries. More than 200 categories of goods are transported in the containers on NJS.