New China-Europe freight train service launched in N.China's Shijiazhuang

Aerial photo taken on April 17, 2021 shows a freight train bound for Hamburg, Germany departing from the Shijiazhuang international land port in north China's Hebei Province. (Photo by Zhang Xiaofeng/Xinhua)

A China-Europe freight train loaded with goods from Xingtai city departed from Shijiazhuang international land port in north China's Hebei Province on July 9, which marks the first China-Europe freight train service jointly launched by Xingtai and Shijiazhuang, reported local media.

The train carried a total of 100 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers of commodities such as bearings, air filter, daily necessities and etc. produced in Xingtai valuing over 30 million yuan. Through Manzhouli port, it will finally arrive in Moscow in Russia and Minsk in Belarus after a 13-day trip. Since then, the train will realize normalized operation of one trip per week.

Currently, Shijiazhuang has launched 12 international routes on a regular basis, covering more than 40 countries and regions in the European Union(EU), Central Asia and ASEAN. In the first half of this year, Shijiazhuang handled a total of 186 China-Europe freight trains, with 18,062 TEUs of goods worthwhile 4.241 billion yuan transported.

As a national logistics hub city, Shijiazhuang provides a platform for Hebei province to expand its market to the outside world. The operation of this freight train is a positive result of the complementary advantages and deepened cooperation between Xingtai and Shijiazhuang. It has built a new channel for Xingtai to deeply integrate into Belt and Road Initiative construction and expand its foreign trade.