The development trend of China-Europe freight trains

The development trend of China-Europe freight trains

  After 10 years of development, China-Europe freight trains have operated a total of 77,000 trains, transporting 7.31 million TEUs of goods with a value of more than 340 billion US dollars, becoming an important bridge for international economic and trade cooperation.

Connecting Asia and Europe and opening up new transportation channels

On September 15, at the China-Europe Railway Express International Cooperation Forum, China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. announced that China-Europe Railway Express has opened 5 lines in the full timetable, with a total of 80 trains running.

Take Xi'an to Duisburg, Germany as an example. It departs from Xi'an International Port Station at 3:55 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday and runs 9,908 kilometers. It can reach Duisburg in 10 days. The entire running time is 30 minutes shorter than that of ordinary trains. %above.

Up to now, China-Europe trains have connected 112 cities in my country, more than 200 cities in 25 European countries and regions, and more than 100 cities in 11 Asian countries and regions along the way, opening up a new Asia-Europe land transportation channel.

——The channel network is gradually improved.

At the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base, locomotives shuttle and operations are busy, and goods take ships to sea as soon as they get off the train; at the China-Europe Express (Shenyang) assembly center, cranes grab containers with the "China Railway" logo one by one and load them to On the train; at the Erenhot port in Inner Mongolia, a China-Europe train has completed its dressing process and is waiting to leave the country...

According to data from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., China-Europe trains have formed three channels for exiting the country through Alashankou, Horgos, Erenhot, Manzhouli, Suifenhe, and Tongjiang ports. The speed of China-Europe trains is 120 kilometers per hour. The number of train lines has reached 86, realizing the network of Asia-Europe international transport.

——Port capabilities have been significantly improved.

The port is an important node during the transportation of China-Europe trains. The train will complete reloading, customs declaration, customs clearance, exit and other procedures here. Over the past 10 years, countries along the China-Europe Railway Express have strengthened the expansion of existing port capabilities, opened new ports, and continuously improved their international transport capabilities to meet the growing transportation needs.

Overlooking the Manzhouli Railway Port, rows of China-Europe trains are rolling out on the wide standard gauge line, and the tall gantry cranes use their "giant hands" to neatly stack the colorful containers. After multiple upgrades, the daily loading capacity of international intermodal transport trains at the Manzhouli Railway Port has increased to 840 TEUs. The loading capacity has doubled compared with 2020, making international combined transport more efficient and convenient.

Data from the China Railway Group shows that in 2022, 5,141, 3,150, 4,838, 2,549, and 884 China-Europe freight trains will pass through Alashankou, Horgos, Manzhouli, Erenhot, and Suifenhe ports respectively, an increase of 3,981 from 2016. Column, 3080 column, 4527 column, 2388 column, 884 column.

——The hub function continues to be enhanced.

Over the past 10 years, our country has actively promoted the construction of demonstration projects for China-Europe freight train collection centers in Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an, and Urumqi, creating modern logistics hubs with excellent services, high efficiency, and low costs, and promoting the development of China-Europe freight trains from "point-to-point" to "point-to-point" hub-to-hub” transformation.

Take Xi'an International Port Station as an example. From the original fourth-class station to the current first-class freight station, Xi'an has become an important gathering center for China-Europe trains. This year, Xi'an International Port Station has been upgraded again: the number of cargo loading and unloading lines has increased from 19 to 29, 12 cargo lines have been transformed and have direct departure functions, and the loading and unloading capacity has increased by 30%. 

Today, Xi'an International Port Station has successfully become a world-class inland port, with a designed annual container throughput of 5.4 million TEUs and an annual railway freight volume of 66 million tons.

Data shows that in 2022, the five assembly centers will operate a total of 8,800 China-Europe trains, accounting for 53% of the total number of China-Europe trains.

Improving quality and quality, innovating new logistics models

Containers are stacked on top of each other, and gantry cranes are busy loading and unloading. Chengdu International Railway Port is very busy, and it is well-deserved as a "land port".

"There are containers at the end of the production line, and the railway port is next to the workshop." said Yang Yi, financial director of TCL Optoelectronics Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd.

After ten years of development, China-Europe trains have built an all-weather, large-capacity, green and low-carbon logistics channel, creating a new situation in international transportation cooperation.

It has outstanding economic and environmental advantages and is widely welcomed by corporate cargo owners.

Jiaze Wood Industry Co., Ltd. in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia is mainly engaged in wood processing. One of the places that company leader Guo Jinhai goes to most is Qisumu Logistics Park, Inner Mongolia’s largest China-Europe freight train assembly base.

Guo Jinhai calculated an account for reporters: for every ton of wood imported, China-Europe freight train transportation can save 50 yuan compared with highway transportation. Based on the annual usage of 200,000 tons, it can save nearly 10 million yuan.

Data shows that for the same shipment of goods from China to Europe, the transportation cost of the China-Europe Express is about 1/5 of air transportation, and the transportation time is about 1/4 of sea transportation. It has the characteristics of high stability and meets the needs of high added value. , strong timeliness and other specific logistics needs have comparative advantages.

"Not only that, the average carbon emissions of China-Europe trains are 1/15 of air transportation and 1/7 of road transportation, playing a positive role in addressing global climate change and sustainable development of transportation." Relevant person in charge of the Freight Department of China Railway Group explain.

Multimodal transport has developed rapidly and service capabilities have been greatly improved.

Arriving at Xiamen Haicang Bonded Port Area, a container liner from Vietnam has successfully docked at the port. The site is busy organizing the unloading of containers into the station. The containers will take the China-Europe train to Kazakhstan, achieving a seamless connection between the "Maritime Silk Road" and the "Continental Silk Road".

“For companies in East and Southeast Asian countries and regions, choosing to arrive in Xiamen by sea and then taking the China-Europe Railway Express to Europe saves nearly half the time compared to the entire sea transportation. This is the unique international sea-rail combined transport advantage of the China-Europe Railway Express (Xiamen) ." said Zhao Liqiang, director of Haicang Station of Zhangzhou Depot of China Railway Nanchang Bureau Group Co., Ltd.

The multimodal transport of sea-rail, road-rail and air-rail allows the efficiency of China-Europe trains to be better released. According to data from the National Development and Reform Commission, there are currently 29 China-Europe freight train lines starting from coastal ports such as Dalian Port, Tianjin Port, Qingdao Port, and Lianyungang Port; cities such as Guangzhou and Chengdu have relied on China-Europe freight trains to create "air freight trains." The new cross-border e-commerce export model of "rail combined transport" promotes the integrated development of "rail, sea, public air and mail" comprehensive transportation.

Mutual benefit and win-win, building a new platform for cooperation

The ceaseless China-Europe freight trains bring new development opportunities to the development of countries and regions along the way.

——Speed up the exchange of goods and optimize the open pattern.

Zhengzhou is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains. In the past, bulk goods exported to Europe had to be transported to eastern seaports and then transported into Europe by sea. Now relying on China-Europe freight trains, Zhengzhou has become a new highland for inland opening up.

"Since 2013, the China-Europe freight trains (Zhengzhou) have gone from a 'single trip' per week to a maximum of 34 round-trips per week. The number of trains has become more frequent, and the number of domestic and foreign partners has reached more than 6,000, forming a 'transportation and trade' ", promoting transportation through trade' is a complementary and healthy development pattern of industries." Gao Fei, director of Putian Station of China Railway Zhengzhou Bureau Group Co., Ltd., said that relying on China-Europe freight trains, Henan has launched Dongfanghong tractors, Xinyang tea, Nanyang mushrooms, Shangqiu cotton, etc. Customized cooperation trains to promote specialty agricultural products to go abroad.

Data from the National Development and Reform Commission show that the value of goods transported by China-Europe trains accounts for 9% of China-Europe goods trade, increasing year by year from 1% in 2015.

——Gather together industrial clusters and expand development space.

Over the years, Chongqing has been approved as a first-class national railway port, a complete vehicle import port, and the first pharmaceutical import port. "The establishment of the complete vehicle import port has driven the export of complete vehicles and parts of Changan, Dongfeng and other brands, promoted the development and expansion of the automobile industry cluster in Chongqing and even the west, and opened a new chapter in the import of complete vehicles in the inland western China." Yu Xin said Liu Taiping, general manager of Ou (Chongqing) Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. From January to August this year, China-Europe Railway Express (Chongqing) imported and exported 64,000 complete vehicles, an increase of approximately 36.7 times.

——China Unicom connects the vast market and opens the "win-win door".

In the "World Supermarket" Yiwu, Zhejiang, there is a Spanish product import pavilion covering an area of more than 500 square meters, selling Spanish red wine, olive oil and other products.

"In the past, many Spanish high-quality products have been unable to open the market due to lack of sales channels." Jin Haijun, the head of the import pavilion, said that after the opening of the China-Europe train, these products were sold by Chinese buyers to China and even Japan, South Korea and other places.

At the same time, Yiwu’s small commodities are also continuously transported to Madrid, Spain via China-Europe trains, helping it become an important small commodity distribution center in Europe. Since the beginning of this year, China-Europe freight trains (Yiwu) have operated more than 1,000 trains, with more than 50,000 product categories.

In recent years, the types of goods shipped from China to Europe through the China-Europe Railway Express have expanded from the initial mobile phones and computers to 53 major categories such as complete automobiles, mechanical equipment, and electronic products. The types of goods shipped from Europe to China have also expanded from the early wood, Automobiles and spare parts have gradually expanded to mechanical and electrical products, food, medical equipment, etc.

The development momentum of China-Europe freight trains is strong. From January to August this year, a total of 11,638 trains were opened and 1.262 million TEUs of goods were sent, a year-on-year increase of 10% and 23% respectively. In the future, the "Steel Camel Team" will definitely bring more opportunities to international economic and trade cooperation.

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