Cargo train starts trip from Xiamen to Europe

A China-Europe freight train loaded with automobile lamps and other goods departed on Saturday from Xiamen, Fujian province, bound for Moscow, Russia, marking the first international multimodal transportation container from Xiamen to Europe.

Prior to the departure, the automobile lamps, worth about 860,000 yuan ($129,000) had been shipped earlier from Kaohsiung of Taiwan to Xiamen, according to sources with the Administration of Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

It took just one day to complete customs clearance, disinfection and sterilization of the goods and transition them to the freight train after they arrived in Xiamen, demonstrating the high-quality business environment in the Xiamen area of the pilot FTZ and the efficiency of the shipping-rail link of the China-Europe freight train, the administration said.

After the containers arrive in Moscow, the goods will be delivered to the Saint Petersburg warehouse through proprietary logistics upon timely and efficient customs clearance, warehousing, pickup and other professional supply chain services, according to the administration.

Traditional shipping services from countries and regions in Southeast Asia and China's Taiwan to Russia have been affected since March this year, due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to the operators of the China-Europe freight train.

The shipping-rail intermodal transportation channel from Taiwan to Russia, through Xiamen, has provided a new quick solution for sending goods from Taiwan and Southeast Asia to Russia, helping to cut the transportation time by nearly half that of the traditional shipping service and with lower logistics costs for exporters, the administration added.

As of the end of May, 1,147 China-Europe freight trains loaded with goods worth 27.7 billion yuan have departed from Xiamen destined for the European market. Freight lines have been opened from Xiamen to Hamburg, Germany, Central Asia and Russia.

Of the goods, 2,026 standard containers worth more than 1 billion yuan were handled by the integrated shipping-rail service from Xiamen, according to the freight operators.

Based on the policy advantages for cargo transit through Xiamen port, the China-Europe freight train operators will continuously expand the shipping-rail intermodal transportation service, helping to promote the cross-Straits industrial integration and business and trade connectivity with Southeast Asian countries and regions.

China-Europe freight trains handled 129,500 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers in May, with the average daily volume climbing 13.3 percent from April, according to data issued by China State Railway Group.

The number of trips handled by China-Europe freight trains also saw a steady rise in April, while maintaining smooth and stable operation, increasing 3 percent month-on-month to 1,170, according to Meng Wei, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission.

It was the 24th consecutive month for the figure to top 1,000, according to Meng.

"The China-Europe freight train has demonstrated strong resilience and played a vital role in stabilizing global industrial and supply chains," Meng said during a news conference in mid-May.