The extreme high temperatures in Europe's summer have driven a surge in demand for air conditioning. In order to seize the peak sales season, leading domestic home appliance companies have comprehensively replaced their logistics solutions. Relying on the efficient transportation capacity of China Europe freight trains, domestic air conditioners have achieved rapid sea freight, completely breaking the bottleneck of traditional sea freight efficiency.

Time wins

On July 28, 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission announced a special press conference on high-quality foreign trade cases of the China Europe freight train. Affected by extreme heat waves in Europe, the demand for air conditioning in the local market has exploded. Home appliance companies such as Midea and Gree have switched their main shipping channels from traditional sea freight to China Europe freight trains. The traditional sea transportation takes about 40 days, while the China Europe freight train only takes 15 days, reducing the transportation time by more than 60%. The local air conditioning industry in Europe is weak, with a penetration rate of less than 20%, and the market gap is highly dependent on China's production capacity. The Pearl River Delta has over 80% of the world's air conditioning production capacity, relying on the dual advantages of industry and logistics to quickly fill the European demand market. In the second quarter of this year, the value of air conditioning and accessories shipped by Guangzhou Railway Group's China Europe freight trains reached 52 million US dollars, and the shipment volume of complete machines exceeded 100000 units.

Capacity upgrade

Compared to sea freight, the China Europe freight train adapts to the seasonal sales characteristics of household appliances, effectively avoiding the problems of delayed stocking and inventory backlog during peak seasons, and helping enterprises improve inventory turnover. The freight rate of the train is between sea freight and air freight, with a higher overall cost-effectiveness, and the rate of cargo damage in closed transportation is extremely low. Simultaneously unaffected by issues such as route disruptions and port congestion, relying on 96 mature routes covering 236 cities in 26 European countries, efficient customs clearance ensures stable delivery of orders. Keywords: China Europe freight train, domestic goods going abroad

The current foreign trade industry is gradually forming a dual track logistics model of regular sea freight stocking and emergency replenishment of trains. The freight structure of the China Europe freight train continues to optimize, and the proportion of high value-added household appliances continues to increase. The cumulative operating volume has exceeded 130000 trains and the value of goods has exceeded 520 billion US dollars. Relying on the land logistics channel and the complete domestic industrial chain, we will continue to strengthen the resilience of the global supply chain made in China, and continue to release the vitality of the the Belt and Road trade.Editor/Min Jing