At the moment when the boards from the Siberian forest area in Russia were transported by the China Europe freight train to Putian, Zhengzhou, and then transported by railway and water across the sea, finally arriving at the Qinzhou Port, a low-cost logistics link spanning land ports and north-south seaports was officially opened.

On August 28, 2026, the "Zhengzhou Putian Lianyungang Qinzhou Port" rail water intermodal transport line was officially opened. Under the industry background that the logistics cost of domestic bulk trunk lines rose slightly by 3.2% year on year in 2026, this line directly produced more than 14% of cost reduction results, adding a key to the the Belt and Road inland port logistics network.

The 17th intermodal transportation node has landed

This route is an important extension of the Zhengzhou land route of the China Europe freight train to the port of Beibu Gulf, and it is also the 17th station in the intermodal transportation network layout of the multimodal transportation company's iron and water transportation. Relying on the distribution advantages of Zhengzhou's national inland hub, the line integrates the dual characteristics of large railway capacity and low water transportation cost. In 2026, the average price of light cargo trunk logistics in China will reach 34-63 yuan/cubic meter, and the average price of heavy cargo will reach 125-250 yuan/ton, which is the industry benchmark. Compared with the full railway transportation along the same path, the comprehensive logistics cost will directly decrease by 14.7%, significantly outperforming the current average cost reduction level of trunk logistics.

The line connects the two core ports of Lianyungang and Qinzhou Port, directly radiating to the southwest hinterland of Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, etc., forming a complete closed loop of "overseas forest area inland hub coastal port southwest market", completely breaking through the previous logistics bottlenecks for bulk goods heading south to the southwest market.

Formation of bidirectional land sea links

This new route will fully unleash the agglomeration and radiation efficiency of Zhengzhou Land Port, further consolidating the logistics foundation of two-way interconnection between land and sea. By optimizing transportation organization and scaling up the advantages of water transportation, low-cost and high stability supply chain support is provided for the smooth operation of industrial chains such as building materials, processing, and manufacturing.

In the next step, multimodal transport companies will take this route as a model, deepen collaboration with ports, railways, customs and shipping parties, steadily promote the one box system model to improve channel operation efficiency, continue to weave the multimodal transport channel network, smooth the domestic and foreign logistics cycle, and inject more solid land port logistics power into the open economic development along the the Belt and Road.Editor/Cheng Liting