Recently, the "Guangzhou Hamburg" China Europe freight train departed from the container yard of Guangzhou Zengcheng Railway Logistics Park. The train is scheduled to arrive in Hamburg, Germany in early February after passing through countries such as Russia, Belarus, and Poland.

In 2024, the China Europe freight trains from Hefei, Xi'an, Chifeng, Lianyungang and other places will inject new vitality into economic development with a "start of the year" attitude.

The current consultation volume of China Europe freight trains is increasing significantly, and China Europe freight trains are attracting more and more shippers due to their safety and efficiency. Since the proposal of jointly building the the Belt and Road, the routes of China EU regular trains have become more and more dense. At present, they are in a stage of rapid development and are constantly maturing.

Market demand has significantly increased

Logistics service providers have clearly felt the increasing demand for the China Europe freight train market. Since the beginning of the new year, many shippers have come to inquire about the information of China Europe freight trains, and many of them have chosen to use China Europe freight trains for transportation for the first time. Previously, they mostly used sea freight to export goods to Europe. Nowadays, the China Europe freight train only takes about 17 days to arrive in Hamburg from Guangzhou, which saves a lot of time compared to sea freight and greatly saves logistics time.

Shanhe Intelligence has exported construction machinery to many parts of Europe. Recently, there have been fewer ship slots, tight shipping schedules, and continuous increases in shipping costs. The China Europe freight train has become the preferred direct route to Europe. Especially as the European region is about to enter the peak spring ordering period, timely completion of delivery tasks is crucial.

Since its first operation in 2011, the China Europe freight train has made significant progress and plays an increasingly important role in international economic and trade cooperation. It is expected that the China Europe freight train will enter an accelerated development stage in the future.

Continuously exploring innovative models

On the vast Eurasian continent, there were camel bells ringing along the Silk Road in ancient times, and now there are China Europe freight trains running non-stop. The 2024 National Railway Supervision and Management Work Conference held on January 10, 2024 revealed that the cumulative operation of China Europe freight trains exceeded 82000 and 7.9 million TEUs. The China Europe freight train has become the lifeline connecting Asia Europe trade through policy communication, facility connectivity, smooth trade, financial integration, and people to people connectivity.

In the process of development, the China Europe freight train has achieved an increase in the number and frequency of routes, improved transportation efficiency, expanded service scope, and improved customs clearance efficiency. As the routes become increasingly dense, the categories of goods continue to enrich, and the structure of import and export goods continues to optimize.

In terms of optimizing the customs clearance process, customs in many parts of the country have made efforts to promote the high-quality development of China Europe freight trains due to the cumbersome transit process and shortage of return goods. For example, Guangzhou Customs provides policy guidance and customs clearance process guidance for "one enterprise, one policy" and "one column, one policy". At Guangzhou International Port, it has normalized the operation of customized domestic new energy vehicle sets and spare parts export trains, local home appliance boutique trains, communication equipment special trains and other distinctive routes, continuously expanding the export of high value-added goods such as white goods, communication equipment, electronic products, and new energy vehicles. In Jiangsu, the China Europe (Asia) freight train has fully applied the railway "fast customs clearance" mode, which has improved the efficiency and convenience level of railway import and export goods transit transportation. The running time of a single train has been shortened by 2 to 3 days, and the cost of enterprise declaration has been reduced by about 20%.

Upstream and downstream enterprises increase their layout

Equipment manufacturing enterprises and logistics enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain should seize the development opportunities of the China Europe freight train and increase their layout in various links of the industrial chain.

Sany Marine Engineering is a subsidiary of Sany Group that specializes in port logistics equipment. In recent years, the company has received a large number of orders in the railway container loading and unloading equipment market, with electric stackers, electric forklifts, and front cranes showing a good situation of supply and demand. Thanks to the incremental market brought by China Europe freight trains and others, the company's sales revenue of railway container logistics equipment has achieved rapid development, reaching a new level every year.

Chengdu Changlian, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Changlian Group, has been in contact with Chengdu International Railway Port since 2016, establishing the Chengdu Europe Express project team and providing more logistics supply chain solutions for foreign trade enterprises. At present, Chengdu Changlian uses the Chengdu Europe freight train to ship goods to multiple European countries such as Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and also transports products from multiple European countries back to China. Chengdu Changlian has established a close cooperation relationship with the Chengdu Europe Railway, and the next step will be to establish cooperation with the Chongqing New Europe Railway and the China Europe Express (Xi'an), to connect the shipping routes of the top three places in terms of China Europe Express shipment volume, and achieve multimodal transportation by rail, sea, river, and road.

The China Europe freight train has made significant contributions to the smooth flow of international industrial and supply chains through convenient, fast, safe, stable, and green cross-border logistics services. Enterprises in various links of the China Europe freight train industry chain should seize development opportunities, strengthen collaborative cooperation, improve service levels, promote digital construction, and jointly contribute to the development of China Europe freight trains. Editor/Zhao E