Acer experimenting with railroad notebook shipments to Europe

Posted on Monday, August 01 2011 @ 15:41 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Sources at Taiwanese component makers told DigiTimes that Acer has shipped 40 containers of notebooks from its plant in Chiongqing City, western China, to Europe via an Asia-Europe railway route. The railway route is a combination of existing railways with a length of over 11,000 kilometers, it's more expensive than marine shipments but could cut shipment time from about 30 days to 13 days. For the time being Acer is scheduling one train trip per 1-2 weeks, and the company is considering to increase this to one train trip per day after testing the climatic impact on laptops during shipments.
The railway route is an international combination of existing railways with a total length of over 11,000 kilometers running from Chongqing and over Xi'an, Lanzhou and Urumqi in China, Kazakstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland to Duisburg in Germany, the sources indicated. Taking about 18-20 days, the railway shipments are intended to replace marine shipments which take about 30 days from notebook production bases concentrated in eastern and southern China to Europe, the sources pointed out.

Shipments via the rail route are scheduled for one train trip per 1-2 weeks for the time being, and the average transportation cost is estimated to be higher than that for marine shipments mainly because a train carries fewer containers than a ship, the sources indicated. After the trial, shipments are expected to increase to one train trip per day and the time may be reduced to 13 days, the sources pointed out. Because the rail route crosses regions differing in temperature and humidity, Acer needs to test the climatic impact on notebooks during shipments.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



Loading Comments