On April 21, 2025, with a long whistle, a Qilu Special Train along the Yellow River of the China-Europe freight trains in Shandong Province, fully loaded with goods, slowly pulled out from the Dongjia Railway Freight Center in Jinan and set off towards the European continent. The operation of this special train is not only a vivid practice of the strategy for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, but also an important milestone in accelerating the construction of the National Gathering Center of China-Europe Freight Trains (Jinan-Qingdao) and enhancing the gathering capacity of China-Europe freight trains in Jinan.

The Qilu Special Train along the Yellow River innovatively adopts the operation mode of "collecting goods from cities along the Yellow River within the province + unified shipment from Jinan". It efficiently gathers the export goods from 8 cities along the Yellow River in Shandong Province, such as Jining and Dongying, achieving "multiple-point gathering and one-stop customs clearance", which greatly reduces the social logistics cost. This freight train is loaded with a total of 57 containers, with a value of over 16 million yuan. Among them, the finished paper produced by Sun Holdings in Jining accounts for the majority of the goods on the whole train.

For foreign trade enterprises, the Qilu Special Train along the Yellow River has brought tangible conveniences. The products produced by the enterprises can be directly loaded at the Yanzhou North Railway Freight Yard near their doorsteps. After being gathered with the goods from other cities in the province in Jinan, they are all transported to the countries jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative by taking the China-Europe freight trains in Shandong Province. This mode not only helps the enterprises expand their overseas orders but also significantly improves the transportation efficiency.

Different from the traditional operation mode of the China-Europe freight trains, the smooth operation of the Qilu Special Train along the Yellow River is inseparable from the in-depth participation and efficient coordination of multiple units. Shandong Hi-Speed Group has taken active actions. Through the special promotion activity of "Qilu Hao · Qilu Xing", it has joined hands with the Port and Logistics Office of Jinan City to vigorously promote the service products of the China-Europe freight trains in Shandong Province to the foreign trade enterprises in the cities along the Yellow River within the province, successfully attracting many enterprises to "give it a try". The business departments under the Jinan Railway Logistics Center of China Railway Jinan Bureau have built a control information platform, upgraded the hardware facilities, and optimized the whole process of work such as short-distance transportation, storage, inspection, loading and unloading, etc., to ensure the efficient gathering of goods within the province. The Jinan Customs has introduced convenient measures such as "appointment-based customs clearance" and "railway express clearance", achieving local inspection of goods and direct access to the port, providing escort for the efficient transportation and circulation of goods.

Since the beginning of this year, Shandong Hi-Speed Group has closely adhered to the goal of building the National Gathering Center of China-Europe Freight Trains (Jinan-Qingdao) with high quality, actively connected with government departments at the provincial, municipal and district levels, and customized international integrated logistics services for customers. At the same time, it has signed cooperation agreements with provinces along the Yellow River such as Shaanxi and Henan to jointly build the land-sea grand channel along the Yellow River. Jinan City has also introduced a number of policy guarantee measures, focusing on solving the problems of "high bulk cargo transportation costs and unstable timeliness" of foreign trade enterprises in cities along the Yellow River, and continuously enhancing the gathering capacity of China-Europe freight trains in Jinan. The data shows that in the first quarter of this year, 190 China-Europe freight trains were operated in Jinan, a year-on-year increase of 6%. Since the convening of the Integration Development Conference of the Nine Cities along the Yellow River in Shandong Province of the China-Europe Freight Trains and the Joint Conference of the Ports of the Nine Cities along the Yellow River in Shandong Province in July 2023, the Qilu Special Trains along the Yellow River have cumulatively transported over 14,000 TEUs of goods. The gathering efficiency has been continuously improved, and the logistics channel has become increasingly unobstructed.

Looking ahead, Shandong Hi-Speed Group will continue to promote the construction of the National Gathering Center of China-Europe Freight Trains (Jinan-Qingdao), accelerate the construction of an efficient collection and distribution network system of "core hub + supporting base", deepen exchanges and cooperation with other provinces along the Yellow River, help the cities along the Yellow River inside and outside the province to deeply integrate into the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and promote the formation of a virtuous cycle of "promoting trade through channels and strengthening industries through trade", injecting strong impetus into cultivating new driving forces for development, building a new economic engine in Shandong Province. (This article is from the official website of Seetao.com, www.seetao.com. No reprinting is allowed without permission. Otherwise, legal liability will be pursued. If reprinting, please indicate Seetao.com + the original text link.) Editor of the Strategic Column of Seetao.com / Yin Shiqian