On 10 November, UIC, represented by Freight Director Sandra Géhénot, participated in the 4th edition of the European Silk Road Summit 2020.
The Summit, which was held online from 10 – 11 November, and involved broadcasts from different studios in Europe and China, looked at the developments of the New Silk Road in 2020, changes in rail freight volumes and whether the figures have impacted Chinese policy on Eurasian rail freight.
UIC’s Sandra Géhénot gave a panoramic overview of transcontinental corridor development and UIC’s activity in this area. She underlined UIC’s aim to foster interoperability, which is important for the development of freight growth on an international level and described the common aim of freight leaders to drive modal shift towards the railways. These messages tied in well with the main themes of the Summit, which emphasised the international dimension of the rail freight business.
Mrs Géhénot gave further details in her presentation about the corridor concept, volume trends and forecast (with reference to the market study published by UIC earlier this year), digitisation as an enabler for future growth, traffic development and the impact of the Covid pandemic, and ongoing UIC action to further support its members in transcontinental corridor development.
More generally, the following topics were also discussed during the event:
Impact of coronavirus
Lessons learnt
New Silk Road resilience
Chinese support measures
Multiple sourcing
Sanctioned goods through Russia
Dangerous goods shipment
The shipper’s perspective
Route development
Ukraine as a transit country
Safety on the New Silk Road
To see the replay of the event, please click here:
