Maersk has launched a new service in August that offers rail freight through Russia and providing transit times competitive with China-Europe rail services via Kazakhstan.The service combines ocean and rail, and runs through the Trans-Siberian corridor.• Maerk’s AE19 service, as it is called, has a Busan-Gdansk transit time of 18 days. Eastbound transit times is 22 days. This is competitive with the China-Europe rail’s 18-day transit time via Kazakhstan. This is more than twice as fast as conventional shipping on that route, according to Maersk.• A key advantage of the rail service through Russia is that once cargo is loaded on a train, it requires only one gauge change at the border with Europe instead of two on the middle corridor, saving time required to transfer containers from one train to another and lowering risk.• Maersk is using its intra-Asia specialist Sealand Asia to provide a short-sea service connecting several Asian origins with the port of Vostochny in the Russian Far East. The rail crossing through Russia to St. Petersburg takes nine days, with Maersk’s European short-sea carrier Sealand Europe then moving the boxes from St. Petersburg to Gdansk and other ports in the region.• The rail connections and transit customs formalities are being provided by Modul, one of the largest private rail operators in Russia, and Global Ports.• China uses heavy subsidies to incentivize the backhaul eastbound trade, and that has enabled forwarders to offer rates of $3,800 per TEU out of Chongqing and $2,200 out of Europe. Maersk service will rely on Russian subsidies on the backhaul trade, which are still unclear.• By the end of 2018, there were an average of 17 trains between China and Europe. We are likely to reach a level of 21 trains a day by the end of 2019, and 27 trains per day by the end of 2020, according to industry experts.• Reducing transit times will depend on improving customs handling, as well as better synchonization of the trains.• As the quality and efficiency of the service improves, more cargo will shift to these rail routues.