China-Kazakhstan Logistics Base Surpasses 70,000 TEU in Cumulative Volume This Year
From: Lianyungang Daily Updated: 2024-12-07 09:42
As the first physical project implemented after the proposal of the "Belt and Road" initiative, the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base has injected continuous momentum into the integration of East and West. Up to now, the base has handled a cumulative volume of 70,000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) of China-Europe (Asia) freight trains this year, representing an 11.98% increase compared to the previous year and surpassing the total volume of the previous year. The transit volume of specialized trains carrying ferroalloys, potash fertilizers, cotton yarn, and other goods from Central Asia leads the nation.
On December 4th, an international freight train fully loaded with used cars departed from the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base with a whistle, heading north. It will exit through the Erenhot port in five days and subsequently arrive in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. "This freight train has successfully concluded our tasks for 2024 ahead of schedule," said Kong, Deputy General Manager of Lianyungang China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Co., Ltd. This year, the base has continuously leveraged the advantages of the land-sea combined transportation corridor, focusing on increasing the scale, frequency, and quality of China-Europe and China-Central Asia freight trains, gradually achieving balanced development with "two departures and one return". The enrichment of the corridor network has led to an increase in business volume, with six international routes covering five ports extending to the construction of the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor. In the first 11 months of this year, a total of 192 Trans-Caspian freight trains have been operated.
To address the previous imbalance of fewer return trips, the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base has strived to provide end-to-end logistics services this year, increasing the frequency of east-west bidirectional operations. In terms of westward departures, it has actively provided door-to-door services for transit and export goods, stably operating point-to-point transit trains on the "Korea-Lianyungang-Almaty" route, and continuously increasing the proportion of self-sourced cargo. For the development of eastward return cargo, new import commodities such as barley, wheat bran pellets, and wheat flour from Kazakhstan have been added, while the total volume of eastward transit transport through Lianyungang port, mainly consisting of ferroalloys, lead-zinc ingots, potassium chloride, urea, and chrysotile, has steadily increased.
Improving the business environment enhances competitiveness. To reduce costs and increase efficiency, the base has continuously promoted innovative models such as mixed loading of "bonded + export" cargo containers on China-Europe freight trains and "direct ship-to-train" zero-wait operations. By implementing transportation modes such as "Lianyungang-Shanghai Express + China-Europe Freight Train" and connecting freight trains with cities within the province, it has attracted international partners, including Korea Railroad Corporation, to participate in international multimodal transport, significantly boosting the growth of freight train operations. Recently, the "Central Asian Potash Fertilizer Transit 'Container-to-Bulk' Direct Loading Model", which was recently recognized as the fifth batch of innovative practice cases in the China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone, has effectively improved cargo transit efficiency, shortened transit times, and reduced logistics costs, injecting innovative momentum into the smooth flow of China-Europe freight trains.
With land-sea combined transportation and interconnectivity, the "steel camel teams" are moving forward steadfastly. By the end of November this year, since its commissioning, the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base has handled a cumulative volume of 37.52 million tons of cargo in and out, 6,524 China-Europe (Asia) freight trains, and 2.165 million TEU of empty and loaded containers. Focusing on interconnectivity, Lianyungang's China-Europe (Asia) freight trains continue to accelerate.