Shenzhen terminal, North Guangdong start intermodal shuttle

Shenzhen terminal, North Guangdong start intermodal shuttle Port and rail officials in Shenzhen and Guangdong Province on Thursday signed a deal to start an intermodal shuttle service between the Yantian International Container Terminal and the city of Shaoguan.
   The city is considered an up and coming center for labor-intensive industries in Guangdong Province, which borders the Port of Shenzhen. YICT is the busiest container terminal in Shenzhen. The service will begin in December and run three times per week.
   “As more and more manufacturing orders are placed in northern Guangdong, where manufacturing costs are comparatively low, the new intermodal service will be ideally placed to provide shippers with a door-to-door cargo transport service,” YICT said in a statement. “Two of the world's largest toy companies, Hasbro and Mattel, are already planning to use the Shaoguan-Yantian service.”
   The agreement was signed by officials from YICT, the Shaoguan municipal government, Guangzhou Railway Group and China Railway Container Transport Corp. The Shaoguan municipal government will provide supporting services and facilities, including customs clearance, inspection and supervision, trucking, consolidation and distribution, and supervised container depots. Guangzhou Railway will provide land and facilities for the operation of the intermodal service. YICT will provide terminal services, coordination between shippers and shipping companies, and container handling equipment for the Shaoguan terminal.
   “The agreement also covers the new YICT inland port project,” YICT said. “In recent years, YICT has been putting much effort in exploring China's inland market for more cargo sources and has made the construction of its inland port a strategic goal. As factories continue to move northwards from the Pearl River Delta towards inland China, the case for developing an inland port, with integrated functions such as customs clearance, container storage and supply chain management, is becoming a strong one especially for the relocated enterprises.”
   YICT said cooperation under the agreement will “help reduce cargo transport costs in Shaoguan and thus improve the local investment environment. Moreover, it will bring Shaoguan more business from adjacent cities such as Chenzhou in Hunan and Ganzhou in Jiangxi. YICT has previously signed cooperation agreements with Yangjiang and Zhongshan in Guangdong Province on the provision of feeder services and has since launched container rail services between Yantian and the cities and townships of Dalang and Huangpu in Guangdong, Liling in Hunan, Kunming in Yunnan, and Ganzhou in Jiangxi.”