China-Kazakhstan Logistics Hub Sets New Benchmark for Zero-Carbon Cross-Border Logistics

From: Lianyungang Daily Updated: 2026-05-11 11:31

A special train loaded with auto parts recently departed from the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base, bound for Uzbekistan. Powering the operation was the nation’s first 3,000-kilowatt pure-electric locomotive with integrated charging and battery-swapping capabilities, which was officially put into service just days earlier. As the first concrete platform project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base has adopted a holistic resource coordination approach to systematically advance the electrification of production equipment and the green upgrading of energy supply, with the goal of building a full-chain zero-carbon logistics park.

A key node on the New Eurasian Land-Sea Corridor, the base has in recent years aligned closely with China’s national “dual carbon” strategy, embedding green and low-carbon principles throughout its entire operation — from equipment upgrades and energy transition to digital empowerment — to systematically build a zero-carbon operation and set a green logistics benchmark for the BRI.

In the transition to electric production equipment, the base has focused on core handling and transport operations to systematically replace major equipment with electric alternatives. Electric stackers are now fully operational, cutting approximately 75 tonnes of CO？ emissions per year. Accelerated retrofitting of rubber-tyred gantry cranes and reach stackers is underway, which will soon achieve full electric coverage of all major handling equipment. In horizontal transport, outsourced electric container trucks are already in full-scale daily operation, completely phasing out traditional fuel-powered vehicles. Combined with pure-electric locomotives handling shunting operations, the base reduces diesel consumption by 40 tonnes annually, significantly cutting road mobile-source pollution. From handling to transport, from “oil” to “electricity”, the base has built a clean-equipment system underpinned by holistic resource coordination, laying a solid hardware foundation for zero-carbon development.

Optimizing the energy mix and scaling up green electricity is a critical pillar of the zero-carbon park. The base has pursued a “green power first” strategy, building an integrated source-grid-load-storage energy system. A 0.51 MW distributed photovoltaic (PV) system is already in operation, generating 550,000 kWh of clean electricity annually. To address power fluctuations caused by the start-stop cycles of large equipment and meet nighttime demand, the base has innovatively deployed a 4 MW energy storage system and a 1 MW supercapacitor system, effectively smoothing grid volatility and ensuring stable power supply. With a new 1.5 MW PV power station and smart charging facilities set to be connected to the grid, the base’s total installed PV capacity will exceed 2 MW, with annual green power generation projected to reach 2.17 million kWh. Supported by the efficient regulation of the energy storage system, the base’s annual electricity demand of approximately 1.8 million kWh can be met entirely by green power, with the share of renewable energy use stably exceeding 90% — achieving a high level of green power self-sufficiency.

Digital transformation has injected smart momentum into efficient zero-carbon operations. In January this year, the base, in collaboration with the Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering of the Ministry of Transport, launched a self-developed smart energy-carbon management platform. This “smart brain” enables real-time collection, precise accounting, and intelligent analysis of the base’s energy consumption and carbon emission data. Meanwhile, through the widespread adoption of advanced energy-saving technologies such as variable frequency drives and regenerative energy recovery, the comprehensive energy-saving rate of three rail-mounted gantry cranes has reached 10%. Going forward, the platform will continue to evolve, integrating monitoring of core facilities such as smart microgrids to build a fully covered, dynamically linked integrated energy management system — further boosting energy efficiency and making every shipment traceable and quantifiable.

“Upon completion of the project, we will strive to build a full-chain zero-carbon cross-border logistics system spanning ‘from customers to the China-Kazakhstan base and onward to China-Europe Railway Express services’. Through concrete measures, we aim to set a high-standard China-Kazakhstan benchmark for the industry and continue injecting green momentum into the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative,” said Zhao Duofa, Party Secretary and General Manager of Lianyungang China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Co., Ltd.