Empty container on return trip is one of the most serious problems in China-Europe railway transportation is. According to the data released by China government, due to the unbalanced trade between China and Europe, the utilization of return container is less than 15% in 2015 Q1. Therefore, most of the containers have to be dropped in European countries in order to reduce the return cost. In order to solve this problem, it is possible to cooperate with cross-border e-retailers to transport the goods from Europe to China, another alternative solution is to conduct segmented transportation based on the requirements of the countries through the return journey. Therefore, it is required to analyze the feasibility of the potential solutions based on the characteristics of the railway lines in order to find the optimal solution.

集装箱空载问题

回程中集装箱空载问题是中欧铁路运输中最严重的问题之一。根据中国政府公布的数据，由于中国与欧洲的贸易不平衡，2015年第一季度，回程集装箱的利用率低于15%。因此，为了降低返回成本，大多数集装箱必须在欧洲国家完成卸载。为解决此问题，方案一是与跨境电子零售商合作，将货物从欧洲运输到中国，方案二是根据国家的需求进行分段运输。因此，为了找到最佳的解决方案，需要根据铁路线路的特点对备选方案进行可行性分析。