China's Guangzhou opens direct freight train service to Ukraine

Photo shows the first direct China-Europe freight train service was launched on May 30, 2021, linking Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, with Odessa in Ukraine. (Source: new.qq.com)

A direct China-Europe freight train service has been opened on last Sunday, linking Guangzhou City in south China's Guangdong Province with Odessa, the fourth largest city in Ukraine, according to Guangzhou Customs.

The freight train loaded with 100 cargo containers of lawnmowers, rice cookers and tea with a total value of 10.59 million yuan, and it will travel 8,408 kilometers in 25 days to arrive in Ukraine after passing through Mongolia and Russia.

Symbolized as the "steel camel" for land transport, the China-Europe freight train guaranteed stable China-Europe trade and international supply chain during the epidemic, with its efficient transport capacity and extensive operation routes.

Showing a strong demand for tea products in local market, Ukraine has to rely on tea import due to the limitation of local climate condition for tea planting, according to Guangzhou Customs, adding that the delivery of Chinese tea for the first time via the Guangzhou China-Europe freight train also further highlights the reliability of the freight train in international logistics.

Guangzhou Customs has been striving to expand the operation routes of the freight train and assist enterprises in the Pearl River Delta to export commodities via the freight train service, in response to the General Administration of Customs' call to support the development of China-Europe freight train.

Official data showed that export of mechanical and electrical goods as well as labour-intensive products via the Guangzhou China-Europe freight train has surged since the beginning of the year, with growth in mechanical and electrical goods more than doubled from the same period of last year.