International freight forwarder, Davies Turner, is now offering air freight pricing option for its direct, fixed-day, weekly Express China Rail service on a per kilo rate, to pitch a cheaper alternative to clients who have traditionally air transported shipments in from China.

Davies Turner said it pricing mechanism for the service from Xi’an, China to the UK will support the growing interest in the service from importers and shippers that have traditionally used air freight.

“Since we launched the service in 2016, we have used the standard overland freight industry pricing technique, which is USD per cubic metre. To make pricing more comprehensible for the air freight sector, we are now additionally quoting per kilo rates, which is the language that air freight importers are more used to dealing with," said Tony Cole, head of supply chain services at the UK-based Davies Turner, adding that it makes a comparison between the relative costs of the intermodal rail service and air freight more immediately obvious.

Davies Turner said to date, rail freight service from China to Europe has been around 70% cheaper than air freight. But that price differential has rocketed as air freight rates reach record levels.

“At the current rate of just US$0.24 per kilo or 2,000 cu cm (with a minimum cost of US$120), it is no surprise that our direct Express China Rail service is becoming of great interest to the air freight sector, which is facing sky-high air freight rates out of China, with costs of US$10 to US$15 per kilo now being seen," Cole noted.

He added that importers that traditionally move freight by air only need to factor in the slightly longer lead times for delivery by rail, to see what a massive cost saving they can benefit from by using our direct rail alternative. Importers that are able to remodel their supply chains to use the rail freight option may do so on a permanent basis.