China adds another China-Europe freight train route for e-commerce goods

A China-Europe freight train, loaded with goods for cross-border e-commerce business departed on Wednesday from Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, marking the launch of the city's first dedicated China-Europe e-commerce express line.

The goods carried by the train include daily necessities produced in multiple cities of east China's Guangdong Province, such as clothing from Guangzhou, small home appliances from Foshan, and kitchenware from Zhongshan.

The train is set to exit China via Xinjiang's Horgos in the northwest of the country and arrive in Italy in 13 days.

This cargo route features advantages including short transit time and low costs, meeting the transportation needs of cross-border e-commerce business for small but frequent shipments and tight delivery schedules.

"Previously, our cross-border e-commerce goods were mainly transported to Europe via sea or air freight. Sea freight took over 30 days, while air freight was relatively expensive. Now, with the new China-Europe e-commerce freight train service, cross-border goods can reach Europe in just 13 days -- more than twice as fast as sea transport, and at only one-fifth of the cost of air freight," said Zhang Junmei, an executive of a logistics company.

Following the launch of this route, about 40 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-border e-commerce goods are expected to be exported weekly.

China adds another China-Europe freight train route for e-commerce goods

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight