The railway port of Erenhot, the largest land port on the China-Mongolia border, handled the 1,000th China-Europe freight train of this year on Saturday afternoon, two days sooner than last year, according to local customs.
Located in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Erenhot Port is the first Chinese port on the China-Mongolia border that offers round-the-clock passage for freight transporters.
The Erenhot Railway Port is at the heart of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, with 72 routes being operated, covering more than 60 cities across 24 provinces in China, and reaching over 70 hub ports in more than 10 European countries including Germany, Poland and Russia.
Since the first China-Europe freight train passed through the port in 2013, it has handled a total of 18,000 such trains. Through scientific scheduling, precise loading, and efficient collaboration, the port has ensured smooth and seamless flows of inbound and outbound operation this year.
In the first quarter, the average transit time at the Erenhot Railway Port was reduced by 19.7 hours year on year, and cargo operation time by 10.2 hours.
A total of 995,600 tons of goods and 91,700 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) were transported via China-Europe freight trains passing through the port in the first three months of the year.
Erenhot handles 1,000 China-Europe freight trains sooner
Tokyo stocks ended lower Monday, with the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average falling around 1 percent, amid concern that the surging yen could disrupt companies' business outlooks, said an analyst.
The benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, ended down 607.12 points, or 0.94 percent, from Friday at 63,754.90.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 43.27 points, or 1.08 percent, lower at 3,960.03.
The Japanese yen rose sharply on Monday, briefly surging to the lower 155 yen range against the U.S. dollar, after Japan confirmed joint currency market intervention with the United States and possible further intervention.
The U.S. dollar fetched 156.76-78 yen after briefly hitting 155.20 yen, compared with 157.33-43 yen in New York and 160.20-22 yen in Tokyo at 17:00 local time Friday.
"Over in Tokyo, the big story was of course the rare joint action by Japan and the U.S. to support the yen, which had been trading near 40-year lows in recent weeks. Japan's finance ministry confirmed that coordinated intervention today and said the two countries are prepared to act on that again. The yen rose as much as 1.4 percent at one stage and the Nikkei 225 fell around 1 percent. The stronger currency was weighing on exporters. There we had Suzuki Motor down 6.7 percent. Many Japanese-listed companies earn a substantial share of their revenues overseas, and a stronger yen reduces the value of those earnings when they are translated back into the Japanese currency. AI-linked stocks also weighed on the market, with the chip-testing-equipment maker Advantest down 3.3 percent," said Timothy Pope, a Shanghai-based market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Pope said that in the rest of the week, investors are going to watch closely the earning reports to be released by the major companies.
"Tokyo has some major earnings to watch this week as well. So, we will be following Toyota, Nintendo and SoftBank -- all of them are due to report. SoftBank's results will be watched particularly closely for further clues about the returns, the risks as well as all of those associated with the enormous sums being invested in AI at the moment," said Pope.
Tokyo stocks end lower Monday on stronger yen: analyst
