A freight train carrying 100 TEUs of goods departs from Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province, for Minsk in Belarus, Oct. 21, 2020.(Photo by Gong Xianming/Xinhua)
BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The China-Europe freight train service, an important part in promoting the Belt and Road construction, has shown strong resilience at the beginning of this year, with significant growth seen in trips and freight volume, reported Securities Daily Wednesday.
In January this year, the city of Yiwu, a small commodity production center in east China's Zhejiang Province, handled 240 China-Europe freight train trips, with 20,140 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers transported, up 179 percent and 172 percent year on year, respectively.
In the same month, Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, handled 32 China-Europe freight train trips, with 2,852 TEUs of containers transported, up 190.91 percent and 159.27 percent year on year, respectively.
On the whole, the latest data from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. showed that in January 2023, a total of 1,410 China-Europe freight train trips were made nationwide, transporting 147,000 TEUs of goods, up 6 percent and 13 percent year on year, respectively.
The freight volume of China-Europe freight trains is a wind vane of goods trade between China and the Belt and Road countries, said Qiu Wenxu, a researcher with the Alliance of Belt and Road Business Schools, adding that China-Europe freight trains connect the world market with domestic production capacity, boosting cross-regional flow of products and development of domestic economy.
It is learned that bulk machinery and equipment and new energy vehicles exported via China-Europe freight trains are increasing.
The strong demand for bulk machinery and equipment is mainly due to the progressing of the Belt and Road construction and the economic development of the Belt and Road countries, noted Wang Peng, a researcher with the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, adding that the increase in the transport of related goods will further promote development of the China-Europe trade and regional economic growth.
(Edited by Gu Shanshan with Xinhua Silk Road, gushanshan.1987@163.com)
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