Multimodal train heading for Moscow

China COSCO Shipping Corp Ltd's first China-Russia multimodal transportation service - by sea and rail - kicked off on Jan 5 in Tianjin, headed for Moscow with 46 containers, each of which is 1,220 centimeters long.

The train will also stop in Ereenhot in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region; Zamyn-Uud, Mongolia; and Naushki, Russia.

It will take 14 days to complete the 7,600-kilometer trip to Moscow.

The train will embark once a week from Tianjin and Moscow.

The first train is loaded with automobile parts, telecommunications equipment, craft works, garments and electronic appliances shipped by COSCO Shipping from southern and eastern China to Tianjin, according to Liang Yongcen, president of the Tianjin Port Group.

The Tianjin Port will significantly benefit from the China-Mongolia-Russia Corridor, and it is beefing up efforts to enhance the strength of the multimodal transportation services, thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, Liang said.

COSCO Shipping and China Railway Corp recently announced enhancements to its partnership in train and sea services.

More multimodal transportation services are in the pipeline from Shanghai; Lianyungang, Jiangsu province; and Qingdao, Shandong province, connecting ports and railways, says Huang Xiaowen, vice-president of COSCO Shipping.

Just one day before the multimodal train left Tianjin for Moscow, the cities of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, and Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, opened their first 2018 freight train services to Europe.

Those services have seen a big jump in numbers. During 2017, 3,600 China-Europe freight trains offered their services, surpassing the total number of combined runs in the previous six years.

Wu Jingyu, director of the Coordination Center of China-Europe Freight Train Service under the China Communication and Transportation Association, said the surge in train services has significantly benefited from government subsidies.

He told National Business Daily that some train lines have faced losses and many companies are not upbeat about the economic returns.

yangcheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 01/12/2018 page29)