<p>Hai Win Shipping will look at the option of return cargo from South Australia to Shanghai to make the Adelaide-Darwin railway a more viable option.</p> <p>The Melbourne-based shipping firm has already made one trial shipment using the railway as one leg of its Shanghai-Adelaide journey and is due to make another trial in March.</p> <p>Hai Win Shipping director Frank Guerra said the company believed the rail option could become more viable with a return sector for the Shanghai service.</p> <p>"That could make all the difference because the numbers would stack up differently," Mr Guerra said.</p> <p>Ideal cargo would be that which could take advantage of the time saved using the rail option – certain types of perishables could be one option, he said.</p> <p>He disputed costs attributed in recent media reports that suggested the railway option alone was about 300% more expensive than direct shipping from Shanghai.</p> <p>If that were the case, there would be no point continuing the trials, he said.</p> <p>Mr Guerra said the cost of the Adelaide-Darwin rail option alone was "less than $1,000" a teu whereas the cost of direct shipping from Shanghai to Adelaide was about $1,600 to $1,700 a teu.</p> <p>Hai Win Shipping believes there is a price level and cargo that will enable a viable service using the railway option. </p> <p>"We are trying. We are not quite there yet but we are not that far away," Mr Guerra said.</p> <p>Hai Win is making a similar shipment trial from Shanghai to Fremantle and the using the Fremantle-Adelaide rail option to compare with the Adelaide-Darwin option. </p> <br />
