Land-Sea Combined Transport Through Europe and Asia “Steel Camel Team” Writes a New Chapter-A Summary of the Fifth Anniversary of the Launch of China-Kazakhstan Asia-Europe Cross-border Transport
“Building the new Asia-Europe land-sea transport corridor connecting Lianyungang-Khorgos into a benchmark and demonstration project for the ‘Belt and Road’ cooperation initiative.” Five years ago, at the video connection ceremony of China-Kazakhstan Asia-Europe cross-border transport , General Secretary Xi Jinping outlined the beautiful vision of co-construction, sharing and sharing from the grand plan of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Bibo Dagang, thousands of sails compete; steel camel team, galloping thousands of miles.
Starting a pen is the vision of the world, and writing a pen is a benchmark. Over the past five years, Lianyungang Port has kept in mind the general secretary’s entrustment, from the dimensions of project deployment, logistics connection, overall expansion, and service integration, with benchmarks and demonstrations as the criteria, to make every effort to penetrate the two continents of Asia and Europe, and connect the three oceans, so that this China Unicom is the golden channel of the New Silk Road Economic Belt, which will boost the “Belt and Road” construction to “accelerate”.
From folio to sharing, the “dual hub” is getting stronger and stronger
In the past few days, in the digital dispatch center of the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) logistics cooperation base, pieces of brand-new small square screens are being skillfully assembled by workers into a large screen with an area of more than 60 square meters, and this large screen will become the port production. Dispatching and commanding the “new hub” to achieve information sharing and business linkage with Khorgos, Kazakhstan, which is thousands of miles away – Dongmen Dry Port.
On June 8, 2017, 4 China-Europe trains loaded with goods were dispatched from China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base and Horgos-Dongmen Dry Port at the same time, opening the curtain of China-Kazakhstan Asia-Europe cross-border transportation ——
In the past five years, the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) logistics cooperation base has realized intelligent scheduling, visualized production, unmanned operation, and direct access between ships and trains, and has become a customs multimodal transport supervision center. Since it was put into use, it has accumulated 26.62 million tons of goods in and out of the warehouse, and 1.562 million TEUs of empty containers and heavy containers. It has gradually become an international economic platform for transit transportation, warehousing and logistics, and trade between the five Central Asian countries.
Since it was jointly acquired and operated by Lianyungang Port and COSCO Shipping in May 2017, Khorgos-Dongmen Dry Port’s reloading operations have also accelerated growth. Since 2017, nearly one million TEUs have been transshipped across borders, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the total transshipment of China-Europe trains in and out of the country. In the first five months of 2022, 106,000 TEUs have been completed, a year-on-year increase of 6.34%.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Lianyungang) International Logistics Park, which is linked with the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) logistics cooperation base and the China-Europe freight train, is also developing gratifyingly. From January to May 2022, the total logistics volume of SCO Logistics Park reached 24.8504 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 44%; the revenue of logistics owners was 1.387 billion yuan, and the strategic pattern of industry and logistics coexistence was gradually formed.
Today, relying on the “two bases and one train”, the Sino-Kazakhstan “dual hub” of land and sea has more and more momentum. More than 80% of the daily consumer goods, exported minerals, grains and other advantageous trade commodities imported by Kazakhstan through China pass through Lianyungang Port Distribution and distribution have played a leading role in Central Asia, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other countries along the route.
With Lianyungang Port as the sea exit, the Sino-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) logistics cooperation base and the Horgos-Dongmen Dry Port as the transit platform, and the liner route and the China-Europe train as the transportation carrier, the whole process of logistics realizes seamless connection. The whole-process logistics cooperation system of land-sea combined transportation of ports, airlines, roads and parks has basically been formed.
From one-way to interconnection, the “aorta” is getting stronger and stronger
On June 7, a train loaded with Kazakh hot-rolled coils arrived at the port of Lianyungang, and a few days later, they will be shipped to Vietnam by sea, further opening the “Kazakhstan-Alashankou-Lianyungang-Southeast Asia” iron-sea express. new channel.
The time dates back to December 1, 1992. The first international container train “Dongfeng 1808” was sent from Lianyungang to Almaty, Kazakhstan, becoming the first international freight train from Lianyungang, and the new Eurasian Continental Bridge was officially opened. operation.
And this luck is 30 years. During this period, the land bridge completed the international freight volume of more than 1.15 million TEUs, and Lianyungang once became the “first port of land bridge international transit transportation”. For a long time, the five Central Asian countries represented by Kazakhstan have logically become the most important “hinter market” of Lianyungang’s international land-sea combined transport.
Since 2017, Lianyungang has joined the International Association of “Trans-Caspian International Transport Routes”, and has stably operated point-to-point direct trains to Almaty and Tashkent. In Poland, Germany, Russia, Mongolia and other countries, 6 high-quality train lines cover 104 international freight stations in Central Asia, West Asia and Europe. The transportation of goods has gradually expanded to various kinds of goods such as building materials, home furnishing, electromechanical, grain, and minerals, forming international multimodal transportation modes such as sea-rail intermodal transportation, rail-air intermodal transportation, and rail-road-water intermodal transportation. The chain network is further woven.
In the past five years, the Lianyungang China-Europe train has shifted from market-oriented cultivation to a quality-oriented development track, with a cumulative transportation volume of 272,000 TEUs. Reaching 100%, Kazakhstan leads the country in the number of special trains for wheat, middle ferrous alloys, potash fertilizer and cotton yarn. During the epidemic, the full load rate and heavy container rate of the trains remained at 100%. From January to May 2022, the number of Lianyungang China-Europe trains rose against the trend, with 331 trains completed, a year-on-year increase of 28.1%, and both eastbound and westbound volumes increased significantly.
“We will keep in mind General Secretary Xi’s entrustment and blaze a new trail of high-quality development.” Wang Xinwen, vice president of Lianyungang Port Holding Group, said that new routes are constantly being extended, new areas are constantly being covered, and new types of goods are constantly being developed. A golden channel connecting the New Silk Road Economic Belt will contribute to the construction of the “Belt and Road”.
From domestic to global, “dual circulation” is getting smoother
Logistics is the blood of the economy. In order to accelerate the flow of “blood”, Lianyungang is based on the domestic and international dual circulation, focusing on the construction of land-sea combined transport channels, and making every effort to improve the port hub function and trade facilitation level.
In the past five years, in addition to the layout of land-based international train routes, Lianyungang Port has continuously promoted the coverage of sea routes to ports in countries and regions along the “Belt and Road”. There are 39 container liner routes including 3 ocean-going trunk lines, with an average annual increase of more than 7, connecting 13 domestic sea-rail intermodal transport channels and Sulu, Henan, and Anhui inland river ports, which play an important role in stimulating domestic goods exports and foreign trade imports. effect.
Promote the implementation of “integrating into the development of the Yangtze River Delta and making the Longhai line”, speed up the creation of the preferred sea port in the central and western regions, and the cooperation between ports and land bridges is also heating up. From January to May 2022, 6 sea-rail intermodal transport channels to Lanzhou, Zhengzhou, Xi’an, etc. will be opened, and the “Lian Shen Express” will move towards the goal of daily flights. The sea-rail intermodal transport volume in Hong Kong has completed nearly 340,000 TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 24.7%. %.
Over the past 5 years, as an interchange hub connecting the sea and land, the comprehensive functions of Lianyungang Port have been increasingly improved. The “one body and two wings” combined port has basically taken shape, the entry channel has reached 300,000 tons, and the 400,000-ton ore terminal has been incorporated into the national layout. More than 170 informatization projects New applications have been added, the construction of the “five centers” in the main port area has been accelerated, and the integrated development of port industry and city has accelerated significantly.
In February 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the “National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline”, establishing Lianyungang as the starting point of the land bridge corridor among the 7 transportation corridors and one of the 11 international hub seaports. “Benchmarking and demonstration projects have injected strong momentum. From 2017 to 2021, the port has completed a cumulative cargo throughput of 1.237 billion tons and a container volume of 24.067 million TEUs. The hub function of the international seaport continues to develop.
“Among them, the zero-waiting mode of ‘ship and vehicle direct pick-up’ for international trains saves 75% of transit time and 60% of corporate transshipment, warehousing, loading and unloading costs; China-Europe trains ‘bonded + export’ goods are mixed together to effectively solve the problem. In order to round up the waiting time for shipment, the ‘one-stop’ supervision service mode of multimodal transport realizes the sharing of data resources of customs, railways, stations and other systems.” said Kong Xiangwei, deputy general manager of Lianyungang Sino-Kazakhstan International Logistics Co., Ltd.
Located in the Lianyungang area of China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Lianyungang Port has set up an internationally advanced “single window” for international trade in order to serve global customers from south to north. Lianyungang Customs took the lead in realizing “direct release of exports and direct import of imports” along the central and western routes, and “single window” for international ships to realize “one order and five reports”. Functional qualifications such as multimodal transport supervision centers and public bonded warehouses have been effectively utilized, financial policies such as the centralized operation of cross-border RMB funds, warehouse receipt pledge, and financial leasing have been introduced, and measures such as the establishment of the new Asia-Europe Land-Sea Transport Channel Free Trade Pilot Zone Alliance have been effective. It is also playing an increasingly important role in the new economic landscape by boosting exchanges and cooperation and smooth transportation of the “Belt and Road”.
From holding hands to win-win, the “community” is getting closer and closer
On April 14, 2020, a donation called “‘One Belt, One Road’ Watching and Helping Each Other” touched the hearts of the people of China and Kazakhstan. The Lianyungang-China Railway Express, carrying 260,000 pieces of anti-epidemic materials, moved the city’s Warmth and concern have brought foreign friends and neighbors thousands of miles away.
“Please allow me to express my heartfelt thanks to the government leaders of this glorious city, the SCO International Logistics Park, and all residents for their important contributions to the fight against the epidemic!” Norov, then Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, learned of this. When the batch of epidemic prevention materials departed from Lianyungang, a thank you letter was sent as soon as possible.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Lianyungang China-Europe Railway Express has continued to transport epidemic prevention materials to Central Asian and European countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Poland, etc., and has also undertaken the important task of smoothing logistics channels and maintaining supply chain stability.
In the past five years, in order to keep the passages open, Lianyungang has actively coordinated the National Railway Group and the Shanghai Railway Bureau to increase the railway delivery plan, strengthened the connection with customers, agents, logistics and other businesses, made use of the advantages of sea-rail combined transportation, and explored new transportation modes.
In April 2019, Lianyungang-Turkey improved the intermodal transport mode, and the Caspian Sea section was changed from train ferry to sea barge; in July 2019, the first order of Lianyungang-Kazakhstan-Turkey rail-air intermodal operation was carried out; in October 2019, the sea The railway-government multimodal transport helps the opening of the China-Jiangsu-Ukraine channel; in November 2020, goods in Yangzhou will take the China-Europe train from Lianyungang to Baku, Azerbaijan via the canal, and the water-rail combined transport channel of “Grand Canal + China-Europe train” will be opened; 2022 In April, Uzbekistan’s chemical fertilizers were “connected by iron” and transported to Mongolia via the “Lianyungang-Ulaanbaatar” train, realizing the first full-course international railway combined transportation.
In the sonorous voice of the “steel camel team”, China-Kazakhstan-Asia-Europe cross-border transportation has opened a new era of international intermodal transportation, and also opened a galloping road of “peace, prosperity, openness, innovation, and civilization”. The people of the countries along the “One Road” route have brought more well-being. (Yang Kailin, author of Xinhua Daily)