Long sea freight delays have left shippers with "no other choice" they say, but to use Russia again for China-Europe rail freight.

Like most European forwarders, Netherlands-based Rail Bridge Cargo initially suspended its service through Russia when the war in Ukraine began. However, MD Igor Tambaca said some customers had requested Russian freight options again.

He said: "We could not look away from companies which have no issue with transit through Russia, given their supply chain challenges with sea freight.

"Time-to-market for them is a big issue and some said they were dealing with sea freight reliability of around 30% and transit times of 60-65 days."

The port congestion in northern Europe has played a role too, Mr Tambaca added, especially at Hamburg and Rotterdam. For example, he said, one customer’s cargo should have arrived in Rotterdam, but was dropped off in Antwerp and waited seven weeks for an onward connection.

He added: "By comparison, we can get containers from China to Duisburg in 16 days [via Russia]. That is a big difference for sometimes the same price as sea freight."