UPS adds option for China-Europe rail shipments

UPS announced Tuesday it added a less-than-container load (LCL) operation for rail shipments from China to Europe.

The service will be available from Zhengzhou, China, to Hamburg, Germany, and is now part of the UPS Preferred® multimodal freight services portfolio, which combines air, rail, ocean and/or ground transportation.

"Our UPS Preferred® LCL service gives customers more transportation options to deliver on growing demand on one of the world's largest and busiest trade lanes," said UPS Global Freight Forwarding President Steve Flowers in a press release.

UPS established a full container load (FCL) operation for rail shipments from China to Europe in June 2014. The company offers FCL service between Zhengzhou and Germany, as well as between Chengdu, China, and Lodz, Poland.

Trade between China and the European Union was valued at $600 billion in 2014, and is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2020, UPS officials said.