The railway station at Qinzhou port in Guangxi has grown from an insignificant border station to a vital node of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, with the number of daily departures surging to over 20 trains. Loaded with electronics, auto parts and mechanical equipment coming from Chongqing, trains arrive at the station en route to their next destination: ASEAN. Station Manager Huang Jiangnan recalls that “there were only two of us working at the station and the annual number of trains was less than 10,” at the station’s opening in May 2015. Qinzhou port now operates 76 container routes, connecting to over 200 ports across more than 100 countries and regions through its foreign trade network. From January to August, the port handled more than 5.8 million TEU of goods, marking a 16% increase year-on-year, while cargo throughput rose 4.4% year-on-year to 297 million metric tons.
The evolution of the railway station at Qinzhou port reflects the dynamic growth of the trade corridor, a remarkable journey of progress and development driven by openness and connectivity. In September 2017, the “southward corridor” from Chongqing through Guizhou province and Guangxi to Singapore, the precursor to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, made its debut. By August 2019, a plan from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) elevated it from a local initiative to a national strategic project. Anchored in Chongqing and with key western provincial-level regions as critical nodes, the corridor employs a combination of rail, sea and road transport to connect with global destinations via the coastal and border ports of Guangxi and Yunnan. After five years of construction, the new western land-sea corridor now connects 523 ports across 124 countries and regions. The total number of train departures has exceeded 30,000, while the range of goods transported has expanded from over 80 types to more than 1,150, reflecting the corridor’s growing role in global trade.
As a landmark project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the corridor is key to accelerating the large-scale development of China’s western region. Spanning 12 provincial-level areas, the less-developed western region plays a vital role in driving the country’s sustainable, high-quality development. According to Zhai Kun, Professor at Peking University’s School of International Studies, the corridor has elevated the western region to a beacon of openness, catalyzing swift economic growth in these areas.
Chongqing’s Tongnan has long been celebrated as one of the world’s premier lemon-growing areas, often mentioned in the same breath as California in the United States and Sicily in Italy. However, for years, reaching markets beyond the local area remained a challenge for Tongnan’s prized citrus fruit. The new western land-sea corridor has been a game-changer for Tongnan’s lemons, propelling them into over 30 countries and regions, including Thailand, Singapore and Russia. This surge in global reach is not exclusive to lemons. A range of regional specialties, once local secrets, are now making their mark on the world stage through the corridor. Ningxia’s wines and goji berries, Xinjiang’s nuts, Guangxi’s Luosifen noodles, and Guizhou’s teas are gaining international recognition, boosting the growth of their local economies.
Shortly after the China-Laos Railway began operation, a new freight service was launched, further boosting trade between China’s western region and both ASEAN and Europe. Leveraging the corridor, businesses in western China are rapidly integrating into the global industrial landscape. In Chongqing, motorcycles produced by Chongqing D-Chamwin Motor Technology Co are shipped as parts via the corridor’s cross-border highway express. Four days later, they arrive at the company’s factory in Mandalay, Myanmar, where they are assembled into complete vehicles for local consumers. Previously, logistical challenges had hindered the company’s expansion. “Logistics used to take too long and the cost was too high,” General Manager Yang Heping said. Motorcycles have a broad market in Southeast-Asian countries, but traditionally, exporting to these nations meant relying on time-consuming river-sea intermodal transport, which often took up to two months or longer, the China Daily reports.
A total of 14,689 China-Europe freight trains operated from January to September this year, representing year-on-year growth of 13%, China State Railway Group Co announced. In the period, the trains carried a total of 1.57 million TEU of cargo, up 11% year-on-year. In September alone, the trains made 1,633 trips and carried 171,000 TEU of cargo. Since January, the number of China-Europe rail freight trips has exceeded 1,600 for seven consecutive months. Currently, the China-Europe freight trains serve 226 cities in 25 countries in Europe.
