"New postman" on china-europe train as "One Belt And One Road"

New channels for thousands of tons of mail

Every Tuesday and Friday, international parcels from all over the country depart from Chongqing Tuanjie Village station on the China-Europe (YuxinOU) train. They will arrive in Vilnius, Lithuania, in about 10 days, before being distributed to more than 30 European countries, including Spain and France.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, global shipping and air transport were blocked, and the China-Europe freight train became a new emergency channel for international mail distribution. It has done a great job in maintaining the stability of the global supply chain.

Taking the opportunity of emergency international mail distribution, china-china freight train and mail have become the "new postman" on "One Belt And One Road". Behind this is the innovation and exploration of China Post, Customs and Chongqing, which have been going on for many years. Relying on the China-Europe freight train to break the ban on international railway transportation and postal service, the two sides constructed new rules for international railway transportation and postal service, rewriting the history of international railway transportation and postal service.

Earlier this year, the coVID-19 outbreak turned the China-Europe freight train into a lifeline for international mail emergency evacuation.

"In the past, international mail was mainly transported by air and sea, but the epidemic has blocked both. At one point, there was a backlog of more than 1,500 tons of international mail across the country." Zhou Xinfeng, general manager of China Post Group's Chongqing branch, said.

In an emergency, China decided to make use of the China-Europe freight train to carry out emergency shipment of mail that was originally scheduled to be sent by air through the three international exchange offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Chongqing, in cooperation with China Post and the General Administration of Customs, took the lead in opening a new channel for clearing the backlog of international mail, relying on the China-Europe freight train (YuxinOU).

"In cooperation with the General Administration of Customs and Chongqing Municipality, China Post has set up temporary transit routes at eight ports, including Tianjin, Yiwu, Nanchang, Changsha and Nanning." Zhou xinfeng said that the parties worked out the new customs transfer process of the China-Europe freight train (YuxinEUROPE), and diverted the mails originally planned to be sent by air through the three international exchange offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen to Chongqing to make use of the china-Europe freight train (Yuxineurope) for emergency transportation.

China's first international parcel train, the China-Europe (YuxinEUROPE) China Post, was officially launched in Chongqing on April 3. It arrived in Lithuania in about 10 days carrying 42 boxes of international mail, which was then distributed to European countries such as Spain, Denmark, Switzerland and France.

The Lithuanian route of this parcel special train is more advantageous than the former Polish route in terms of price, transshipment time and country coverage. At present, the Lithuanian Post is able to carry a wider range of european-bound mail, extending the reach of parcels to 36 European countries.

"In the early days of the outbreak, the China-Europe train (Yuxinou) opened a special parcel train at the frequency of one or two shifts per week according to the concentration of mail." Xu Runqiu, manager of the marketing center of Yuxinou Chongqing Logistics Co., LTD., said that with the improvement of the epidemic in China and the reduction of mail backlog, three to four containers have been taken aboard the China-Europe train twice a week recently.

By November 6, CEIBS (Yuxinou) had transported a total of 326 boxes of europe-bound containers to Chongqing and 470 boxes to Europe-bound containers to Beijing, Guangdong, Hunan and other provinces, accounting for about one third of the total volume of europe-bound containers nationwide. After Chongqing, the International parcel special trains of The China-Europe freight train in Yiwu and Guangzhou have also been running one after another.

"It was an excellent answer." Zhou said.

Rewrite international rail mail rules

For many years, parcel post has been an international railway embargo. The rewriting of international railway transport and mail rules is an important prerequisite for the smooth operation of international parcel train.

In 2011, "Yuxin Europe", the first china-Europe freight train line in China, was established in Chongqing, providing a new channel for international mail transportation. However, the 1956 International Agreement on Combined Rail Transport promulgated by the Railway Cooperation Organization (OSJD) expressly states that "postal goods shall not be transported exclusively in the context of direct international rail transport of goods".

"Chongqing first organized the test of the domestic segment of the China-Europe freight train (Yuxineurope) to find out the basic situation." Xu runqiu said, and then with the General Administration of Customs, China Post and other aspects of coordination, put forward the use of china-Europe freight train (Yuxinou) in countries along the idea of shipping mail.

After chongqing and China post, the General Administration of Customs, such as multilateral efforts to strive for, in June 2014, the railway cooperation organization in Lithuania, transport law committee meetings were held to discuss by the new international railway cargo transport agreement, delete on it is prohibited to transport special postal articles related statements, establish the rules of international railway mail transport law main obstacle to explode.

In the High-level Forum of China (Chongqing) Cross-border E-commerce Post held in April 2016, postal administrations of countries along the belt and Road formally confirmed the principle of "countries cooperating with China and Europe to carry out railway transportation and mail, and providing land transportation mode suitable for cross-border e-commerce" in the form of Chongqing Declaration.

In March 2017, upU Operational Council set up an AD Hoc working group on international railway transport and postal services under the chairmanship of China to jointly study the rules and standards of international railway transport and postal services with the World Customs Organization, relevant international railway organizations and countries along the China-Europe freight train line.

"During the process, the parties held more than 30 meetings and exchanged more than 300 emails." Long Yan, the project manager of Chongqing International Express Branch, who witnessed the whole process, recalled.

In May 2016, Chongqing became the country's first pilot city for railway transportation and postal services approved by the General Administration of Customs. The china-Europe freight train and mail test work also started immediately. In October 2016, china-Europe freight train (Yuxinou) was successfully tested in the whole journey. In November 2018, the first test of the china-Europe Freight train (Yuxineurope) was successful, marking a complete rewrite of the history of railway transportation and mail.

Taking the upU AD Hoc Working Group as the platform, China Post has taken the lead in formulating the Working Guide for Railway Transport and Postal Services with guiding significance at the level of international organizations, which has become the rules and standards for international freight trains, freight trains and postal services.

Since then, the mode of international railway transportation and mail initiated by Chongqing has been gradually replicated and promoted to Yiwu, Zhengzhou, Chengdu and other places, and finally played a key role during the epidemic.

The Lithuanian route saves time and money

Taking the opportunity of international mail emergency distribution, a mechanism has been put in place to normalize freight and mail services, which have been scaled up and normalized.

Zhou said that with the rise of cross-border e-commerce "global purchase" boom, a large number of "fragmented" parcels are sent to the world every year, but the traditional international mail routes mainly focus on sea and air transport, which is obviously insufficient, time-consuming, small in volume and expensive in cost. By normalizing the delivery of parcels on the China-Europe freight trains, the advantages of "lower cost and shorter time than air transportation" and fewer types of shipping prohibited will be brought into play to boost the development of cross-border e-commerce.

At present, Chongqing is striving to improve the transport efficiency and reduce the transport costs of the China-Europe freight train and mail, so as to give full play to the comparative advantages of the China-Europe freight train over sea and air freight.

"During the epidemic, China Post confirmed with Lithuania Post repeatedly, and Lithuania Post made it clear that large-scale mail transfer could be completed." Zhou said that the Sino-European freight trains used Poland as a transit point, but the transport efficiency and cost were not satisfactory, while the transport efficiency and cost of Lithuanian routes were significantly improved. The international freight trains running in Chongqing, Yiwu and Guangzhou are all Lithuanian routes.

"In the old Poland route, the delivery time of mail to European customers was about 30 days, while in Lithuania the delivery time was reduced to about 18 days, and the freight per kilogram of mail was nearly 30 yuan lower than that of the Polish route," Longyan calculated.

"The scale and normalization of china-china freight and mail services will extend the communication between China and the regions along the One Belt And One Road from the 'great arteries' to the' capillaries'." Li muyuan, executive vice President and secretary general of China container industry association, said that it is of great significance to maintain the stability of global supply chain and industrial chain and promote the further development of "One Belt And One Road".