Highway freight service facilitates trade between ASEAN, western China

CHONGQING -- The volume of cross-border highway freight transport via the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor increased with a growing number of trucks involved in the first quarter of this year, according to the Chongqing Highway Logistics Base in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality.

During the period, 1,306 truck trips transported goods worth about 991 million yuan ($144.03 million), surging 316 percent and 394 percent year-on-year, respectively. The service delivered 2,939 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers with a total cargo weight of 28,100 tons.

In March, 403 truck trips delivered 907 TEU containers of goods worth about 308 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 153 percent, 153 percent, and 377 percent, respectively.

Launched in April 2016, Chongqing's cross-border highway freight service mainly caters to countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It reduced transportation time compared with sea freight massively.

As of March 31, 11 cross-border highway freight-service routes had been launched, covering over 30 cities in Southeast Asia and parts of South and Central Asia. Via the service, auto parts, motorcycle parts, laptops, and fruits from Chongqing and other regions are transported to the ASEAN countries.

The foreign trade of Chongqing, an inland city on the fast track of China's new round of opening up, hit a record high of 815.84 billion yuan in 2022, up 2 percent from 2021.