Fujian's first Silk Road Sea Transport liner route launched in Xiamen

The first container liner route identified as Silk Road Sea Transport in Fujian is launched in Xiamen on Dec 24. [Photo/xmnn.cn]

The ship departed with a whistle on what is now its regular route at Xiamen port in Fujian province on Dec 24, marking the official launch of the first container liner route identified as Silk Road Sea Transport in Fujian.

On the same day, the newly-launched liner route's operator, Fujian Silk Road Sea Transport Operations Co Ltd, was inaugurated, becoming the first company in China to offer comprehensive international logistics service based on sea transport.

The operator will be developed in three steps over the next seven years.

From the end of 2018 to June 2019, the Fujian company will launch 16 foreign trade container liner routes with a unified marking "Silk Road Sea Transport" and establish a Silk Road Sea Transport Alliance with its secretariat in Xiamen.

The company will construct the alliance into a new platform of economic, trade and cultural exchanges with countries and regions along the Maritime Silk Road by attracting ports, shipping and logistics companies around the world and organizing international forums and seminars each year.

As of now, more than 50 such companies have shown interest in the alliance, including the Russian Far East Railway Bureau.

By the end of 2020, the company will have launched more such routes, sought closer exchanges with ports and shipping companies at home and abroad and offered more convenient sea-railway combined transportation to inland Chinese provinces.

By the end of 2025, almost all the international container shipping companies stopping by China's coastal ports will be members of the Silk Road Sea Transport Alliance and Silk Road Sea Transport routes will reach China's main coastal ports and the ports along the Maritime Silk Road. The "Silk Road Sea Transport" will have become a world-renowned comprehensive logistics brand with international competitiveness and good reputation.

In 2018, Xiamen has traded 98.8 billion ($14.3 billion) yuan with Maritime Silk Road countries and attracted 45 investment projects from them. To date, the Chinese city has housed 57 Belt and Road shipping routes and 20 such air routes, while Xiamen-Europe trains reach more than 30 cities in 12 European countries.