Land-sea corridor facilitates coal imports from Russia

The first China-Russia international rail-sea intermodal container train carrying 3,200 tons of coal from Russia was sent from Fangchenggang Station in Guangxi on July 15 to Xiaoyugu Station in Guizhou province through the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. The coal is expected to be delivered in four days.

Recently, a total of 22,000 tons of coal have been transported from Russia to Fangchenggang by sea. After unloading, the coal will be transported in batches by rail to Guizhou to meet the coal demands of local coking plants.

The land-sea trade corridor is the most convenient channel for imported and exported goods from the western provinces and cities in China. In the first half of this year, 1,619 trains were opened, a year-on-year increase of 66.3 percent.

Coal is a necessary raw material for coke production. Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, Guizhou has a shortage of coal. Importing coal through rail-sea combined transportation can not only solve the rigid demand for coal use by local enterprises in Guizhou, but also save transportation costs by 20 yuan ($2.86) per ton.

In the first half of this year, the number of trains from Beibu Gulf ports to Guizhou increased by 300 percent year-on-year, greatly accelerating the economic recovery.