From Transshipment Detours to Direct Sea Access: Lianyungang Port Builds the Optimal Outward Seaport for Central and Western China

From: Lianyungang Daily Updated: 2026-08-07 10:12

“In the past, our export cargo from Xinxiang had to take sea-rail intermodal transport via detours to other nodes for consolidation. Now, we can ship directly from Xinxiang to Lianyungang in one single through trip, which cuts both time cost and logistics cost significantly,” the head of Zhongwu Xinneng International Logistics (Henan) Development Co., Ltd. praised repeatedly at the recent successful maiden departure ceremony of the Xinxiang—Lianyungang container sea-rail intermodal service. On the same day, the company specially presented a silk banner to the staff of the Henan regional team at Lianyungang Port’s Marketing Center, to express full recognition for the opening of this new corridor.

This marks the second sea-rail intermodal corridor opened by Lianyungang Port in Henan, following the Zhengzhou route. It offers enterprises in northern Henan a brand new option of “going global right at their doorstep”. Previously, cargo from Xinxiang and surrounding areas bound for shipment via Lianyungang Port had to detour to other logistics nodes for transshipment and consolidation, which led to cumbersome procedures, long turnover cycles, and higher logistics costs and operational pressure for enterprises. To address this pain point, the Henan regional team of Lianyungang Port’s Marketing Center traveled deep into the hinterland of Xinxiang starting from March this year, visiting key local foreign trade enterprises one by one, and customizing one-stop “Rail + Port + Shipping” logistics solutions tailored to the transportation demands of different cargo types and destinations.

From a single corridor to a full-fledged network, and from “customers coming to the port for service” to “services delivered directly to customers”, Lianyungang Port is leveraging sea-rail intermodal transport as a bond to continuously extend its functions as a deep-water hub port deep into the inland areas of central and western China. Back in the 1990s, following the full opening of the New Eurasian Land Bridge, Lianyungang Port became the core outward seaport connecting central and western China to global maritime routes. To this day, the central and western hinterland remains a key strategic partner of Lianyungang Port. The port has always positioned itself as a land-sea intermodal transport hub, and keeps extending its deep-water port advantages further into the central and western inland regions.

To further tap into the central and western hinterland market, Lianyungang Port has been continuously optimizing its inland service system. “Door-to-door service to solve problems is not an empty slogan — it is delivered step by step by every colleague in the Henan team,” said the head of the Henan regional team at Lianyungang Port’s Marketing Center. Relying on the localized regional service model, the port takes the Henan Marketing Center as the core fulcrum for the central plains hinterland, and mobilizes a full-port 100+ member marketing team to go deep into the market. The team regularly visits and connects with key foreign trade enterprises across central and western China, accurately mapping out their logistics demands and optimizing intermodal transport service plans. On this basis, the port continues to improve its inland dry port network across central and western China, moving core functions including customs clearance, container management, booking and document release to the “doorstep” of local enterprises. Leveraging dry ports as frontline service nodes for land-sea coordination, the port has bridged the “last mile” of port services for inland regions, truly realizing service sinking and unobstructed direct access, and building solid hardware support for central and western enterprises to go global efficiently.

Statistics show that Lianyungang Port’s inland intermodal transport layout has delivered remarkable results since last year. The Zhengzhou—Lianyungang sea-rail intermodal corridor has been incorporated into the national railway operation schedule, and the large-scale, normalized development momentum of the port’s sea-rail intermodal transport has been steadily consolidated. Last year, the port completed 943,000 TEUs of sea-rail intermodal volume, representing a 7.8% year-on-year growth, with half of the cargo sources coming from central and western China.