The significance of the China-Europe Railway Express during the first year of the pandemicĭuring April and May 2020, due to the combined effects of all the above-mentioned circumstances China–Europe Railway Express (CURE) became a secure and fast way to transport goods from China to Europe and vice versa. The reasons behind that were that the airfreight rates went up, the truck transport took longer time to deliver goods than before due to procedures at the borders, and blank sailings occurred more in the ocean freight. Even though the railway sector suffered as others, the results showed that on the global level during the times of COVID-19, the level of railway transportation remained the same, and in some countries, it was higher. ![]() It was during these times that many of us realised how valuable railways are, and how much they are helpful in pandemic times. Since the trucks have a weight limit (tonnes) they can carry, the only other transportation alternative was the railway. The main alternative was to transport goods by land as much as possible. The ship cargoes were blocked in many ports due to safety reasons. One of the main questions, in the early days of the pandemic, was how to organize the transportation of goods from all over the world? The air traffic was almost non-existent. What to do when you face transportation struggles? There were no immediate answers, and every country in the world tried its best, to protect the lives of its citizens and to make every day living as normal as it was possible. The questions just piled: how will we continue the production, will we have enough food, will we have enough medicines and medical supplies, how we will organize the transport, etc. In these new circumstances, it was obvious from the beginning that trade and global supply chains would be disrupted. The COVID-19 is not just a health problem it is also a political, economic and social problem. This pandemic is without a doubt one of the biggest problems that the world faced in newer history. ![]() It was something that the public was at the same time expecting and fearing. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared the COVID-19 pandemic. By Katarina Zakic, PhD Research Fellow, Regional Center "Belt and Road" Institute of International Politics and Economics Serbia
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