DHL Sets New Benchmark With First Türkiye-to-China Import Rail Block Train via Trans-Caspian Corridor

• 30-day multimodal solution—down from the typical 40–50 days—meets Chinese consumers’ demand ahead of the ‘618’ Shopping Festival
• Providing stable and resilient transport solutions for import supply chains from Türkiye and European markets
• Leveraging DHL’s resources and capabilities to manage China-Europe rail eastbound supply and demand imbalance

DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist of DHL Group, has successfully completed its first Türkiye-to-China import rail block train via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, transporting Electrolux Group’s AEG-branded premium refrigerator products from Izmir to Chengdu in just 30 days—significantly faster than typical eastbound transportation which takes 40 to 50 days. The shipment departed from Izmir and travelled by rail to Baku, a port on the Caspian Sea. It then crossed the Caspian Sea by ferry to Aktau, Kazakhstan, before continuing its journey by rail to Chengdu.

This shipment will meet Chinese consumers' demand for upgraded home appliances ahead of local peak retail seasons: ‘618’ (June 18) Shopping Festival, which is China's second-largest annual e-commerce event, as well as ’11.11’ Singles' Day (November 11). Against a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, route volatility, and delivery time pressure for global supply chains, this solution demonstrates a faster and more reliable multimodal alternative for China-bound import supply chains.

Delivering Speed And Certainty For Time-Critical Shipments

Global supply chains have been under increasing pressure from disruptions in the Middle East and volatility in ocean freight routes, making transit times between Türkiye and China less predictable. For Electrolux, ensuring the timely arrival of products in the China market was critical to secure end-market supply ahead of key milestones such as the summer sales peak and ‘618’ within the required timeframe.

To address this urgency, DHL Global Forwarding China rapidly mobilized its cross-regional teams upon receiving the shipping instruction from Electrolux on April 1, 2026. Leveraging its global network and local expertise across Türkiye, China and countries along the route, the team promptly tailored a dedicated assurance plan to secure capacity and coordinate multimodal operations. The team also completed route qualification review, capacity locking, cross-border capacity dispatching, and facilitated the end-to-end shipment planning within two weeks. This enabled the timely departure of the rail shipment on April 15.

The project achieved a 30-day station-to-station transit time from Izmir to Chengdu – a significantly shortened lead time compared to conventional ocean freight. This enabled Electrolux to complete import customs clearance as planned and ensured the stable operation of its China market supply chain. 

Expanding Supply Chain Resilience Through the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route to Connect China, Central Asia, Türkiye and European Markets

From the Red Sea crisis and ongoing Middle East conflicts to the rapidly evolving global trade landscape, supply chain reliability is constantly tested. As companies seek to optimize their international supply chains and diversify transport routes, rail and multimodal solutions are playing an increasingly important role in enhancing supply chain resilience. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the “Middle Corridor,” is a key East-West trade link, connecting China, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Türkiye and Europe. By providing an alternative route that Bypasses congestion-prone and geopolitically sensitive areas, the corridor offers improved flexibility, reduced risk exposure and greater transit reliability for China-bound cargo. 

DHL began exploring the use of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route for cargo transportation between China and Europe as early as 2018. At that time, the route was hindered by challenges in transit time and delivery stability, constrained by a lack of logistics infrastructure, cross-border coordination efficiency and the maturity of multimodal operations. As countries along the Belt and Road Initiative continue to advance connectivity in transport infrastructure, the railway, port, road and multimodal capabilities of the Trans-Caspian Corridor have continuously improved over the years with enhanced operating efficiency and service stability. Strengthened cooperation between China and countries along the route in railway ports, port nodes, cross-border customs clearance and multimodal coordination have also created favorable conditions for a more wide-spread and in-depth application of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. 

This successful implementation underscores the growing maturity and practical value of the Trans-Caspian Corridor as a viable logistics solution for global manufacturers navigating an increasingly complex trade environment. It also enables global manufacturing companies such as Electrolux to swiftly and steadily respond to the needs of the Chinese consumer market amid geopolitical uncertainty.

DHL Pioneers New Model for Challenging Eastbound Import Block Trains

For a long time, China-Europe freight trains have shown an industry characteristic of imbalanced cargo structures between export and import directions. Organizing China-bound import block trains presents greater complexity compared with exports that need precise cargo consolidation, route matching and cross-border coordination. This places a greater demand on the resource integration and operations management capabilities of logistics providers.

DHL’s successful execution of this Türkiye-China import rail shipment not only demonstrated its capability to overcome these operational challenges and improve the utilisation of eastbound capacity, but it also provided replicable practical experience for subsequent operation of import block trains between China and Türkiye.

Aditi Rasquinha, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Greater China, said, “Supply chains today are no longer optimized for cost alone—they must be built for speed, reliability and resilience. As the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route continues to mature, it becomes a compelling option for businesses seeking to build more diversified, flexible and stable supply chains across China and Central Asia, Türkiye and Europe. Going forward, DHL will continue to leverage its global network and strong local expertise to support customers in developing more efficient and resilient supply chains in an increasingly complex market environment.”

Guan Xiuhong, Managing Director of Electrolux China, said, “China is one of Electrolux’s most important strategic markets globally. By efficiently transporting products from Türkiye to Chengdu through the Trans-Caspian rail corridor, this project has not only strengthened the resilience and responsiveness of our supply chain but also ensured that we can deliver high-quality home appliance products to Chinese consumers in a timely manner and meet the market’s continuously upgrading consumer demand. DHL’s professional capabilities and rapid response in project coordination and cross-border execution are highly aligned with our commitment to deepening our presence in the Chinese market and serving hundreds of millions of households in a sustainable way, which we highly recognize.

Electrolux Group is a global leader in home appliances with more than 100 years of history and the company mission of “Shape living for the better.” The company integrates sustainability into its corporate goals and operating practices and is committed to creating better and more sustainable living through innovative products and green supply chain solutions. In the Chinese market, Electrolux continues to optimize its cross-border logistics footprint and actively introduces lower-carbon transport modes such as rail multimodal transport to reduce its supply chain carbon footprint. Through a more resilient global supply chain network, it continues to provide Chinese consumers with high-quality home appliance products and services.