All aboard the China-to-London freight train
By Jonathan Josephs Business reporter, BBC News 18 January 2017
It's not on a boat, it's not on a plane, it's on a train. The newest way to
send your freight from China to Europe involves spending 15 days on a train
that doesn't have a buffet car in sight.
经由铁路运送货物从中国到欧洲是最新的一种方法，需要15天但没有餐车
※译注：还是会有中国乘客自备食物上车地
On 3 January in Yiwu in eastern China, a bright orange locomotive pulling 44
containers laden with suitcases, clothes and an assortment of household goods
set off on a 7,500-mile (12,000km) journey to western Europe.
1/3从义乌市载着44箱装满行李的列车启程，横越12000公里来到西欧
※ (浙江)
Ten containers were taken off at the German cargo hub of Duisburg. The rest
made up the first cargo train from China to arrive in London at Barking's
Eurohub freight terminal.
十个箱子在德国杜伊斯堡卸下，剩下的到伦敦
London is the 15th European city to find its way on to the ever-expanding map
of destinations for China's rail cargo. Last year, 1,702 freight trains made
the voyage to Europe, more than double the 2015 figure.
伦敦是中国列车扩张版图下第15个到达的城市。去年有1702辆火车到达欧洲，这个数量比
起2105还要多两倍多
Yiwu Timex Industrial Investments, which is running this service with China's
state-run railways, says prices are half that of air cargo and cut two weeks
off the journey time by sea.
义乌时代工业投资公司（Timex Industrial Investments）与中国国营铁路公司合作，表
示价格是航空货运量的一半，海运时间减少了两周。
Market demand 市场需求
The UK's biggest supermarket, Tesco, doesn't have any goods on this
particular train but does use rail to carry toys, electrical goods, homeware
and clothing from China to European rail hubs such as Bratislava in Slovakia
and Krasnaje in Belarus.
英国最大的超市Tesco在这条列车上没有任何货物，但使用轨道将玩具，电子产品，家居
用品和服装从中国运往欧洲铁路枢纽，如斯洛伐克的布拉迪斯拉发和白俄罗斯的Krasnaje
。
Alistair Lindsay, Tesco's head of global logistics, says the supermarket
prefers shipping its goods because this is the most environmentally friendly
way, as well as offering the best value for money, but that "where we need to
move products quicker we have that option to do it by rail".
Tesco全球物流部主管Alistair Lindsay表示，超市更喜欢运输货物，因为这是最环保的
方式，同时提供最佳的性价比，而“我们需要更快地搬运产品，我们可以选择铁路“。
This decision would normally be driven by customer demand for particular
products, he says.
他说这个决定通常是由客户对特定产品的需求驱动的。
It demonstrates how market demand and the realities of globalisation are
increasingly allowing China's President Xi Jinping to realise his ambitious
plan to revive the ancient Silk Road.
它展示了市场需求和全球化的日益增长，使得中国国家主席习近平得以实现其恢复古代丝
绸之路的雄心勃勃的计划。
Trade route 贸易路线
For centuries the fabled trade route from the ancient capital of Xian
provided a link to the bustling markets of European cities such as Istanbul
and Venice.
几个世纪以来，来自西安的古都的传说中的贸易路线提供了与欧洲城市，如伊斯坦布尔和
威尼斯的繁华市场的链接。
In the 21st Century China has become the world's biggest exporter, with the
export of goods totalling $2.28 trillion (￡1.85tn) in 2015.
在21世纪，中国已经成为世界上最大的出口国，2015年出口商品总额为2.28万亿美元（
1.85万亿英镑）。
This rail expansion is part of President Xi's "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR)
trade policy. For Beijing it offers another way to sustain its economic
growth.
这条铁路扩张是习主席"一带一路"贸易政策的一部分。对于北京，它提供了另一种方式来
维持其经济增长。
Kazakhstan is one of the countries on the route and it was there that Mr Xi
first outlined his vision in a speech in 2013 saying, "This will be a great
undertaking benefiting the people of all countries along the route."
哈萨克斯坦斯坦是路线上的其中一个国家，在那里，习近平先生在2013年的一次演讲中首次概
述了他的愿景，“这将是一个惠及沿线所有国家人民的伟大事业。
Extolling the virtues of globalisation was a theme he repeated again at Davos
this week.
吹捧全球化的美德是他本周在达沃斯再次重申的主题。
For some, this is as much political as economic, offering Beijing the chance
to project soft power as well as demonstrating it has the influence to thread
disparate nations from Russia to Spain together.
对于一些人来说，这是政治上的经济，提供北京的机会，以展示软实力，以及表明它有影
响，把不同的国家从俄罗斯到西班牙在一起。
"[OBOR] is set to become Xi Jinping's grand legacy," says Dr Sam Beatson, of
King's College London.
“一路一带将成为习近平的伟大遗产，”伦敦国王学院的Sam Beatson博士说。
"Regardless of the returns on offer... the policies will continue to be
pushed as a means of seeking to fulfil Xi's dream under his leadership."
不管提供什么回报......这些政策将继续作为在他的领导下谋求实现习近平梦想的手段
Reduced emissions 减少排放
One of the other legacies President Xi is trying to tackle is China's
pollution problem. While rail cargo is not as green as sea transport it emits
less carbon dioxide (CO2) than air travel.
习主席的另一个遗留问题是中国的污染问题。虽然铁路运送不如海运那样绿色，但其
排放的二氧化碳比空运少。
This is the "first argument when trying to get our customers to re-evaluate
their options", says Johan Ignell, rail freight manager at Swedish cargo firm
Greencarrier.
瑞典货运公司Greencarrier的铁路货运经理Johan Ignell说：这是试图让我们的客户重新
评估他们的选择的第一个论点
It calculates that a 40ft (12m) container with 20 tonnes of cargo would
account for just 4% of the CO2 emissions it would take to move it by air
(though emissions would be more than halved again if it were moved by sea).
它计算出，具有20吨货物的40英尺（12米）集装箱将占用通过空气移动它所需的二氧化碳
排放量的4％（尽管如果它被海运移动，则排放量将再次减少一半）。
Freight transport accounts for about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions,
but it is "fraught with difficulty" to compare emissions from different
transport modes, says Prof Alan McKinnon of Germany's Kuehne Logistics
University.
德国Kuehne物流大学的Alan McKinnon教授说，货运占全球温室气体排放量的7％左右，但
比较不同运输模式的排放是“充满困难”。
Prof McKinnon, one of the authors of a 2014 report by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), says "load factor, energy efficiency and
power sources all make a difference and can be hard to ascertain".
政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）2014年报告的作者之一，McKinnon教授说，“负载因
子，能源效率和电源都有所不同，很难确定”。
He adds: "While shifting air cargo to rail will certainly cut emissions,
container shipping will continue to command a significant carbon advantage
over transcontinental rail, particularly now that most vessels are slow
steaming to save fuel."
他补充说：“将航空货物转移到铁路将会减少排放，集装箱航运将继续控制跨越大陆轨道
的碳排放优势，特别是现在大多数船舶都是慢蒸汽以节省燃料。
There is also a business case for this emerging trade route to grow. Not
least among European companies looking to export to China.
还有一个商业案例，这个新兴的贸易路线增长。最重要的是希望出口到中国的欧洲公司。
At the moment there are no plans to run a return train service from London
but that could change quickly. China is already the European Union's second
biggest export market - though there is an EU trade deficit in goods of about
$190bn.
目前，没有计划从伦敦经营回程火车服务，但这可能改变很快。中国已经是欧盟第二大出
口市场 - 尽管欧盟贸易赤字约为190亿美元。
Growth potential 增长潜力
For UK companies facing up to the reality of Brexit, China is an attractive
proposition and the train carries new opportunities.
对于面临Brexit现实的英国公司，中国是一个有吸引力的建议，火车带来新的机会。
Brand Avenue is a company that already exports British-made goods including
cosmetics and jewellery to China, and chief executive Jody Jacobs says he's
exploring moving to rail.
品牌大道是一家已经向中国出口包括化妆品和珠宝在内的英国制造商品的公司，首席执行
官Jody Jacobs说他正在探索向铁路运输。
"We deal a lot in goods which weigh a lot in comparison to their volume
[which is] where airfreight becomes expensive, such as cosmetics and baby
food.
“我们处理了很多货物，它们的重量相比，它们的空间货物昂贵，比如化妆品和婴儿食品
的体积。
"So for us a service which is quicker than sea and cheaper than air is a
great middle ground."
“所以对我们来说，比海更快，比空中更便宜的服务是一个伟大的中间地带。
For established cargo companies rail also offers the potential for growth.
Shipping lines have seen profits fall because of overcapacity attributed to
the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
对于成立的货运公司，铁路也提供了增长的潜力。由于全球金融危机的后果导致产能过剩
，航运公司的利润下降。
The world's biggest shipping company, Maersk, told the BBC it is
investigating "possible opportunities" in long-distance rail, though it sees
them as supplementary to sea and air routes.
世界上最大的航运公司马士基告诉英国广播公司，它正在调查长途铁路的“可能的机会”
，虽然它认为它们是海运和航空路线的补充。
China is planning another 20 European routes for rail freight, and with the
world's demand for consumer goods continuing to grow, all the ingredients
seem to be there for rail to help the global economy steam ahead in 2017 and
beyond.
中国正在计划另外20条欧洲铁路运输线路，随着世界对消费品的需求持续增长，所有的变量
似乎都存在于铁路上，以帮助全球经济在2017年及以后前进。
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38654176?ocid=socialflow_twitter