New freight service links SW China's Chongqing and Myanmar

A freight train bound for Myanmar's Mandalay is about to set off from southwest China's Chongqing, May 23, 2021.

The first outbound international rail-road freight train left Guoyuan Port in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality for Myanmar's Mandalay on Monday.

Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will first reach Lincang in southwest Yunnan province and pass through Qingshuihe port on the China-Myanmar border before arriving at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days.

It marks the launch of a new transport route of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a trade and logistics passage jointly built by western Chinese provincial regions and Singapore.

Spanning 2,000 km, the new route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost.

With the new route, export goods from Chongqing and surrounding areas could reach Europe, Africa, the Middle East and countries in South Asia via Myanmar.

The successful launch of this new route achieved with the joint efforts of China's shipping giant COSCO and Yuxinou (Chongqing) Logistics Co., Ltd, according to Qi Dan, general manager of Yuxinou Logistics, adding that more efforts will be made to launch the inbound freight service from Myanmar to Chongqing and further promote the development of rail-rail, rail-road, and rail-sea intermodal transit between the two sides, in order to offer more shipping choices between China and southeast Asia.

Looking forward, the new route will add more impetus to China-Myanmar trade cooperation by facilitating connections between the Yangtze River Economic Belt and regions along the Belt and Road.