On March 16, 2026, the Singaporean general cargo ship Tianlu set sail from the Sunan International Container Terminal in Jiangyin, Jiangsu, heading towards the port of Antwerp in Belgium, marking the addition of a new international waterway for river sea intermodal transportation in Jiangyin Port.

The Tianlu ship has a total length of 189.9 meters and a width of 28.5 meters, carrying 365 special containers and over 2200 tons of domestically produced mechanical and electrical equipment. It is expected to arrive at the port of Antwerp in 55 days.

Antwerp Port is the second largest steel transit center in Europe, relying on the European inland waterway network to mainly handle steel, machinery, and energy products. The opening of this route provides new support for China to explore the Western European shipping market and effectively ensures the stability and smoothness of the international logistics supply chain. Keywords: international routes, river sea intermodal transportation, Made in China

According to data from the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Transport, during the 14th Five Year Plan period, Jiangsu Province has opened a total of 93 international container shipping routes, including 24 ocean shipping routes and 69 near ocean shipping routes. According to the 15th Five Year Plan, Jiangsu will continue to optimize the layout of near ocean shipping routes, develop intermodal transportation of iron, sea, and roll on/roll off, and strive to achieve a coverage rate of 80% for important trading countries and regions by 2030.Editor/Gong Ziwei