APL offering high-speed rail service to Midwest

The service will be paired with APL’s Eagle Express X transpacific service.

   APL said it will couple its transpacific Eagle Express X (EXX) Ocean service with a high-speed rail transport from the Port of Los Angeles to Chicago, Memphis, Dallas and Kansas City starting next month.
   APL said ithe EXX RailFlash “is set to deliver every EXX shipment from China to the U.S. inland at least four days sooner than a typical ocean and land transit combined. With this new offering, APL participates in the CMA CGM Group’s ambition to offer its customers a complete and global transport solution through the development of land-based services.”
   Jesper Stenbak, senior vice president of APL transpacific trade, said the new service would take the company’s EXX service “one notch up as we deliver import cargoes farther and faster to four key destinations across the U.S.”
   EXX offers 11-day transit time from Shanghai to Los Angeles, and he said, “EXX RailFlash will significantly shave off days of inland cargo transits from Los Angeles.”
   An EXX shipment from Shanghai that goes on the EXX RailFlash will arrive in Chicago in 16 days, versus a regular 23- to 30-day ocean and land transportation. Fifteen days is all it will take for an EXX shipment from Ningbo to reach Kansas City, instead of a typical 20 to 27 days ocean and land transit.
   APL said it will make cargo containers arriving in Los Angeles available on the same day at the Fenix Marine Services terminal, combined with immediate drayage of EXX containers to the dedicated off-dock rail ramp.
  Truckers who are picking up EXX containers get priority access into the terminal via EXX-dedicated bobtail gates. They have experienced an average truck turn time of about 25 minutes, versus a 90-minute average recorded by the industry in Los Angeles and Long Beach. The same efficiency can be expected for U.S. inland-bound EXX cargo to an off-dock rail facility for domestic transfer onboard the EXX RailFlash.
   Bookings for EXX RailFlash will be available for shipments sailing from Shanghai on March 14 onward.