Far East Land Bridge (FELB), a leading railway operator specializing in rail transportation of containers between Europe and Asia, has found success in balancing their fleet and reducing idle time through their partnership with an online container logistics company, Container xChange.
With a fleet of approximately 2600 containers, FELB sought a solution to quickly lease extra units during times of high demand and avoid empty repositioning costs during periods of low demand.
In 2018, FELB joined Container xChange’s leasing platform, primarily using it to book one-way leases when additional containers were needed. However, as they continued to use the platform, FELB also began supplying their own containers to the platform to balance their fleet and decrease idle time.
"Joining Container xChange has exposed us to great opportunities to balance our fleet," explained Alexander Redkin, COO of FELB. "Imbalance between the Westbound and Eastbound is about 3:1, so we can quickly lease extra units when we have a shortage or supply our units when the market is low."
“Previously, it was a challenge to find reliable partners to move our containers. And when we did, we had to frequently email them to negotiate terms and conditions, which was a very time-consuming process. Now, with xChange, we can easily find partners to move our containers from Europe to China and all our offers are well structured, saving us time on lengthy negotiations.”, said, Liping Yang and Jinglin Guan, Asset Managers of FELB.
In addition to the benefits of leasing and supplying containers through the platform, FELB also utilizes xChange Insights, a tool that provides market container rates and guides the negotiation of leasing contracts with partners. This product has allowed FELB to more accurately determine potential earnings and align its offers to maximize profits.
“Insights shows us the market container rates so we can learn our potential earnings and it guides us when negotiating leasing contracts with partners.” Jinglin Guan further added.
"Balancing a container fleet in today’s volatile market can be challenging. It’s more important than ever to have access to real-time data to make efficient and informed decisions. By providing our customers with a platform for leasing and trading containers and insights into market rates, we are enabling them to make smarter business decisions, reduce idle time, and ultimately achieve greater success in the market. Additionally, our platform allows customers to quickly and easily find reliable partners to move their containers, minimizing costs. - Container xChange CEO, Christian Roeloffs.
Through their use of Container xChange, FELB has gained 55 new reliable partners and leased over 4,700 containers since 2018, while reducing idle time for their fleet. FELB employees also praise the platform for its ease of use and the real-time updates it provides on their stock levels and container locations.
