China's SCODA sees rise in China-Europe freight train trips

Aerial photo taken on Feb. 8, 2021 shows staff members arranging the loading of "Qilu" freight train in east China's Shandong Province.  (Xinhua/Wang Kai)

The China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in the port city of Qingdao in east China's Shandong province, handled 357 trips made by China-Europe freight trains in the first five months of this year, up 37.3 percent year on year, accounting for 47.5 percent of the province's total, said local customs on Thursday.

Carrying 100 TEU containers of goods worth a total of 11 million yuan, a customized China-Europe freight train departed from the SCODA on Wednesday and will arrive in Russia via China's Alataw Pass in about 14 days.

This train adopted a new mode of faster custom clearance, which connects data from the customs, railway operator and enterprise, said a Jiaozhou customs officer.

The new customs clearance mode is part of the city's efforts to facilitate foreign trade.

Thanks to such facilitation, enterprises enjoy faster access and inspection process, and thus save shipping time of one to two days, as well as cost up to 200 yuan per container.

The SCODA has doubled down efforts to build an international multimodal transport hub. So far, the demonstration area has opened 16 international routes.