New policy measures enrich land-sea trade corridor

The General Administration of Customs unveiled 15 policy measures on Friday to enrich the growth of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

Besides better linking the trade corridor with the booming China-Europe freight train services and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the administration will assist domestic companies in fully utilizing the benefits of the rules of the RCEP pact, and enable industrial collaboration between businesses in China and Southeast Asian countries, according to information released by the GAC.

Launched in 2017, the corridor is a trade and logistics passage that was jointly built by provincial-level regions in western China and member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is also one of the key projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, which was initiated by China.

Building upon the existing regular freight train services, the GAC will support the operations of specialized train services for automobile transportation, refrigerated goods and certain types of cargo, said Wu Haiping, director-general of the GACs' department of general operation.

Due to its advantages in terms of transportation speed, cost-effectiveness and safety, railway-maritime intermodal transport has gained favor among Chinese and foreign companies, and has witnessed rapid development in recent years.

A total of 4,510 of such services were operated along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in the first half of 2023, up 9 percent year-on-year, data from the GAC showed.

Meanwhile, the trade corridor facilitated provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities along its route to partake in foreign trade amounting to 350 billion yuan ($48.73 billion), highlighting a notable year-on-year growth of 40 percent.