N. China's Shijiazhuang launches first int'l freight train to Vietnam

A freight train carrying 46 containers of goods on Monday departed from Shijiazhuang City in north China's Hebei Province for Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, marking the opening of the land freight transport route between Shijiazhuang and Vietnam, reported Chinanews.com.

Cargo on board mainly included made-in-Hebei products such as hardware and fertilizer, with a total value of over 5 million yuan.

The train is expected to arrive in its destination in 7 days after traveling around 2,700-odd kilometers.

Previously, goods were shipped to Vietnam and other Southeast Asian markets by sea and it would take at least 15 days, according to Li Jiangna, manager of international train business division of Shijiazhuang International Land Port.

One train is planned to run regularly on the Shijiazhuang-Hanoi line each week.

Vietnam is one of Hebei's main trading partners. In the first five months, Hebei's tradewith Vietnam amounted to 4.22 billion yuan, accounting for 14.59 percent of the province's tradewith the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to data from Shijiazhuang Customs. (Edited by Su Dan, sudan@xinhua.org)