On Tuesday, November 10th we had the pleasure to participate as speakers in the online edition of the European Silk Road Summit, an opportunity to discuss and deepen the development of the New Silk Road. The fourth edition of the Summit took place, in fact, in a completely digital environment, enriched by live speeches from Chengdu with the Asia-Europe International Transport and Logistics Cooperation Forum.

The coronavirus was undoubtedly the main factor that had an impact on the logistics industry: an important milestone on the New Silk Road, Wuhan, was the epicentre of the pandemic. However, rail freight transport has proven to be resilient and able to respond flexibly to new demands. Our intervention has particularly deepened rail transport for the fashion industry.

The Fashion sector on the New Silk Road: what are the prospects for rail freight?

The “Fashion on the New Silk Road” panel with Cristiano Vecci (Hugo Boss), Wouter Marees (C.H. Robinson) and Eleonora Buganè Pedretti (Furlog) highlighted the potential of rail transport for fashion.

In fact, companies in the fashion industry are becoming more and more attentive to Corporate Social Responsibility, which is also turning into responsibility for more sustainable means of transport. The train is very interesting in this sense because on one hand it offers faster journeys (compared for example to sea or land transport) and on the other it produces lower CO2 emissions.

Today, speed and care of transport are essential to respond effectively to the demands of fashion companies. The garment needs, in fact, to leave and arrive at its destination in perfect conditions, with a safe, punctual and specific transport, as for example through the use of special containers equipped with bars for the transport of hanging garments.

In recent months, however, there have also been critical issues, due to the scarce availability of spaces compared to the growing demand, caused by the exceptionality of the moment. 2021 will therefore be a year of challenge and continuous growth for the rail freight.

In order to take full advantage of its opportunities, it will be essential to plan trips more and more in advance and share all information with logistics and transport operators in order to improve services.

 

Click here for all videos of the European Silk Road Summit.

Click here for the panel with Eleonora Buganè Pedretti, Managing Director of Furlog (from about 32.40’).

 

Contact us for tailor-made transport services for your company

At Furlog we support small and big companies and we always propose new solutions to optimize every kind of transport, with a special attention to rail transport.

For questions or requests for quotation you can contact us at +39 059 6132066 or write us at info@furlog.com.