The 110,000th China-Europe freight train departed from Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province on Tuesday morning, marking a milestone in the service's high-quality development since 14 years ago.
Linking 128 Chinese cities with hundreds of European and Asian cities, the China-Europe freight train service has sent more than 450 billion U.S. dollars worth of commodities in its 14 years of service.
Tuesday's train from Qingdao will exit China via northern Inner Mongolia's Erenhot Port, the largest land port on the China-Mongolia border, before arriving in Europe in 17 days. It is loaded with 55 containers of home appliances, including LCD monitors and refrigerators, worth nearly 20 million yuan (about 2.78 million U.S. dollars).
As of May this year, Shandong Province has operated more than 11,800 China-Europe trains, transporting cargo through 56 international operating routes. The trains have delivered over 10,000 kinds of commodities, such as electronic products, auto parts, complete vehicles, communication, and mechanical equipment.
"Through the trains, we send out a large number of products made in China and bring back products from foreign countries. The categories of imported goods have gradually expanded from the initial timber materials to grain, paper, daily necessities and many others, which greatly improved the development of industrial clusters including grain and timber in Shandong Province," said Ma Chunbo, general manager of Shandong Europe-Asia Freight Train Operation Company.
The China-Europe freight train service was launched in March 2011 from southwest China's Chongqing to Duisburg, Germany, establishing a direct overland trade corridor between China and Europe.
"For now, 128 cities in China have opened China-Europe express trains, connecting 229 cities in 26 European countries and more than 100 cities in 11 Asian countries. Our six major ports have a daily delivery capacity of 184 trains, providing strong support for the expansion of China-Europe express trains," said Wang Yanbo, a China State Railway Group executive.
As a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the service underscored the high demand and resilience of the rail link amid global logistics challenges.
China-Europe freight train service surpasses 110,000 trips
