Xiamen-Moscow freight train service launched

A new freight train pulls out of Haicang Bonded Port Zone of Xiamen Free Trade Zone in East China’s Fujian Province on April 21.

The train, which is loaded with 40 containers carrying goods worth US$363,000 including stone materials, loaders, lighting products, artificial flowers and semi-finished footwear, will travel to Moscow, capital of Russia via Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

This is the third international freight train route departing from Xiamen to countries along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative. In the past two years, Xiamen opened freight train services to Lodz, Poland and Almaty in Kazakhstan

It takes about 14 days for the train to finish the 10,920-kilometer journey to reach Moscow.

“Previously, it took at least 25 days for cargoes from Xiamen to reach Moscow. The new route will become a fast logistics channel,” said Jiang Jingdong, assistant general manager of Xiamen Haicang Bonded Port Zone Investment and Construction Management Company, which is the operator of the freight train service.

Huang Quanxi, general manager of Xiamen Jijia Logistics Company, said, “The cargo list shows trade between Xiamen and Russia is complementary.”

Huang noted Xiamen and its surrounding cities mainly export machinery equipment and shoes and garments, and will import products including wood and paper pulp from Russia.

He said foreign clients would rather purchase goods such as cloth materials in Jinjiang, a city neighboring Xiamen, than in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, since the transportation is more convenient due to the international freight trains.

Chinese Customs’ data shows that Xiamen’s exports to Russia last year were worth 5.1 billion yuan, with imports worth 1.9 billion yuan, in 2016.