During the Spring Festival, China-Europe freight trains operated normally in many places across the country

During the Spring Festival, China-Europe freight trains operated normally in many places across the country. Before the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the first China-Europe freight train of the Year of the Ox has been launched in various places, carrying full loads of goods to countries along the "One Belt And One Road" routes such as Central Asia, West Asia and Europe. At the same time, a large number of goods have been shipped to China to meet the demand of the Chinese Spring Festival consumer market. At present, China-Europe freight trains are enjoying favorable development opportunities.

The Spring Festival never stops

On the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, the whistle sounded from Ganzhou International Port Station. The China-Europe Express X9238 slowly set out from Ganzhou International Port Station, loaded with 50 containers of air conditioners, freezers and daily necessities, and headed for Tashkent, Uzbekistan... This is the first China-Europe freight train from Ganzhou International Inland Port in the Spring of 2021. Since 2021, 33 China-Europe freight trains have been operated at Ganzhou International Port, including 28 departing trains and 5 returning trains.

Such scenes can be seen in many places in Hefei, Anhui Province, which is located in the central region of China. Hefei has realized the "double train" of China-Europe freight trains for the Lunar New Year, which brings "made in Anhui" and "made in Hefei" to the world. In Northeast China, during the Spring Festival, the Sino-Europe freight train (overland Europe) has an export shipment plan almost every day. The shipment organization of Changchun Xinglong Railway Port does not stop during the whole holiday to ensure the timely departure of the trains on time. In western China, on the eve of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the China-Europe Railway Express (Chongqing) international parcel train set off smoothly. During the Spring Festival, the China-Europe Railway Express (Chongqing-Xin-Europe) and Chongqing-Manchuka-Russia Railway Express and other major foreign channels in Chongqing remained smooth. On the first day of the Chinese New Year, the X8074 China-Europe freight train, loaded with 100 standard boxes of export goods, set off from the west station of Yiwu for Minsk, the capital of Belarus, sounding its sirens. On the same day, Jinhua in Zhejiang also set off for the first China-Europe freight train of the Year of the Ox.

Although it is the Spring Festival holiday, the China-Europe freight trains are basically open, with some places only having a short rest for a few days, and generally maintained a stable and smooth operation.

Foreign economic and trade university professor in the school of international economy and trade Cui Fan in international business newspaper reporter interview analysis, central trains "not close" reflects the Chinese Spring Festival with the heat of the trade cooperation of countries along the way "area", is beneficial to both countries along the smooth passage to supply China commodity, but also to commodity rich countries along the Chinese Spring Festival market, into an international industry chain supply chain security stable cooperation, deepen the "area" important carrier.

Usher in new opportunities

Since its opening in 2011, the China-Europe freight train has shown a momentum of rapid development. By the end of this year's Spring Festival, 1,590 China-Europe freight trains have been running since 2021, transporting 150,000 TEU, representing year-on-year growth of 93 percent and 103 percent in freight volume. China now has 30 cities with over 100 China-Europe freight trains, connecting 106 cities in 21 European countries, covering most of the Central and Eastern European countries. Looking abroad, data released by the German port of Duisburg showed that despite the impact of the epidemic, container handling capacity at the port increased by 5% to 4.2 million TEU in 2020, setting a new record.

Cui Fan believes that the current China-Europe freight train is facing three development opportunities. First, due to the impact of the epidemic, the customs clearance efficiency of the traditional shipping method is greatly reduced, while the customs clearance and inspection of railway transport is relatively smooth. Second, the sea freight rate continues to rise, "one container is difficult to find" and "one container is difficult to find" and other phenomena will make more enterprises choose the relatively low freight rate, transport time is controllable, stable capacity of China-Europe freight train; Third, in the face of the epidemic, cross-border e-commerce and other new forms of business are developing rapidly. The products in these channels are characterized by small packages and many pieces, which match the transportation mode of China-Europe freight train very well. Meanwhile, the transportation cost performance of the China-Europe freight train for machinery and equipment and some other products is also very good.

Cooperatives B2B electronic commerce research center and network zhou-ping zhang cross-border business director, senior analyst, said in an interview with the international business newspaper reporter accompanied by the rapid development of cross-border electricity, small package number, shipping cost, customs clearance, etc are constrained, "central trains + overseas warehouse" mode can guarantee stable goods arrived, the pattern and the development of cross-border electricity very match.

It is reported that recently, with the large increase of export goods, a lot of sea and air goods are transferred to railway transport at an accelerated pace. The China-Europe freight trains in Xi 'an, Yiwu and other places are also experiencing a peak of foreign transport. The hot situation even makes it difficult to find a cabin for the China-Europe freight trains in some places. The China-Europe freight train has played an important role in meeting the booming demand for imports and exports during the Spring Festival.