On September 27, 2021, with a whistle buzzing, the first international train departing from the Chengdu Air-Rail International Intermodal Port officially departed for Vientiane, Laos, 2,900 kilometers away. The official opening of the train marked the full opening of the new air-rail-road multimodal land-sea channel in western China, and promoted the formation of an "air-rail mutual aid, comprehensive three-dimensional" opening system in Chengdu.

Air-rail combined transport provides a new way of transportation

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport ranks among the top in the country in terms of throughput. Therefore, Chengdu Shuangliu District has significant air transportation advantages. In contrast, its railway freight is rarely known. The opening of the train and the establishment of multiple air-rail combined transportation channels are to use the advantages of air transportation to promote the establishment of railway transportation channels and form new advantages.

The air-rail international intermodal port at the departure station of the train was originally designed to ensure the logistics and transportation needs of electronic foundry companies such as Compal and Wistron in the Shuangliu Comprehensive Bonded Zone. According to the railway development plan of the China Railway Chengdu Bureau, the project is incorporated into the overall functional layout of the Chengdu road network hub, highlighting the southbound advantage, complementing other railway ports and optimizing together.

On September 11, the Chengdu (Shuangliu) International Air-Railway Port was officially unveiled at the China-ASEAN Expo, and the first batch of "air, rail, and public water" multimodal transportation channels was released: starting from Shuangliu, passing through Pingxiang, Guangxi and Yunnan There are 3 passages for the southbound entry and exit of Mohan and Guangxi Qinzhou Port.

The route of the train running this time is the first channel. This is also the first international train in the air-rail international combined transport port and the first official operation after the completion of the special railway line in the Shuangliu Comprehensive Bonded Zone.

Zhang Jiaoyun, director of the China region of Thailand's ETL company, told China Business News that this batch of goods are mainly electronic parts, clothing fabrics, etc., and some of them come from East China and North China. Transported by rail to Vientiane, Laos, and then to Bangkok, Thailand. Since the China-Laos railway has not yet been completed, trucks are still used to transport the overseas sections.

ETL has been operating logistics in China and Southeast Asian countries for 10 years, and the main method of logistics is road transportation. Zhang Jiaoyun said that there are many road transportation problems. For example, the route through Pingxiang, Guangxi, and then to the Xinmatai area is more congested. Air-rail combined transport provides a new mode of transport between China and ASEAN.

Zhang Jiaoyun said that air-rail combined transport has comparative advantages in terms of cost performance and timeliness compared to sea, air and road transport. Air-rail combined transport is close to road transport in terms of timeliness, but it is more stable and has a higher transport capacity than road transport.

Multimodal transportation can also effectively reduce transportation costs and improve logistics efficiency. Take Dell as an example. Before the air-rail international combined transport port is put into operation, the freight exported to ASEAN adopts cross-border road transport or rail transport to Qinzhou Port to sea. The logistics cost is about 30,000 yuan/40GP, and the iron-sea combined transport time is about 5 sky. After the air-rail international combined transport port is opened, the logistics cost per container will be reduced by about 14.6%, and the logistics time will be shortened by about 15%.

According to Xia Sisi, deputy general manager of the Railway Center of China Travel Service China Central Logistics Co., Ltd., in the past few years, cross-border e-commerce mainly used air transportation. In recent years, cross-border e-commerce has increasingly strong demand for logistics diversity. "We have acquired several cross-border e-commerce companies, and the feeling is very obvious." Xia Sisi said that due to cost pressure, cross-border e-commerce demand for rail transportation is gradually increasing.

The Shuangliu air-rail international combined transport port provides another option for enterprises. In terms of end-to-end transportation, the time for air transportation is about 5 days and that for rail transportation is about 15 days. Companies carry out differentiated transportation of materials according to their needs, "or it can reduce transportation costs by half, which is hugely attractive to companies."

Chengdu speeds up the development of new logistics channels

For a long time, Chengdu, which is located in the western inland region, hopes to build faster international channels and get rid of geographical disadvantages. Therefore, opening up more overseas logistics channels is an important strategic direction. At present, Chengdu is the protagonist of the two emerging new international logistics channels, the China-Europe Railway Express and the new western land-sea channel.

Since Chengdu and Chongqing have already used the same brand, the number of CDBs is also counted. In 2020, the number of China-Europe express trains (Chengyu) will be nearly 5,000, and the cumulative number of operations over the years will reach 14,000, accounting for more than 40% of the total number of lines opened in the country. From January to August this year, the China-Europe Express Train (Chengyu) opened more than 3,000 trains; the new land-sea corridor in western Chengdu opened more than 400 trains, with a total of nearly 2,000 trains.

On August 1, 2021, Guangxi Qinzhou Port sent out the "Beibu Gulf Port-Chengdu-Poland, Germany" train. The train departs from Guangxi Qinzhou Port to Chengdu International Railway Port. After connecting with the China-Europe train, it is sent to Mala, Poland and Duisburg, Germany. This is the first time that Chengdu and Qinzhou have realized the new China-Europe train and the new western land-sea channel. "Dual-channel combined transport".

Not only that, Chengdu is opening up a third international logistics channel-direct access to Myanmar's coastal ports into the Indian Ocean through multimodal rail and high seas. On August 27th, the new China-Myanmar corridor (Yangon-Lincang-Chengdu) sea-road-rail combined transport test cargo successfully arrived at Chengdu International Railway Port for the first time. This corridor will undergo multiple tests.

On this basis, the China-Laos railway will be opened before the end of this year, and the investment and trade between China and ASEAN are growing rapidly. ASEAN has become China’s largest trading partner, especially the formal signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). The background has prompted Chengdu to accelerate the construction of a channel that radiates Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Lei Xiaohua, deputy director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies of Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with China Business News that under RCEP, Southwest China can build a new industrial chain and supply chain with ASEAN, forming a market for manufacturing in China and assembly in ASEAN. . With the growth of economy and trade and the growth of trade volume, in this case, the volume of containers will also increase.

This time the freight train also shows the complementarity of this industrial chain. Zhang Jiaoyun said that China's exports are mainly electronic components and clothing materials, which are assembled in Southeast Asia to form final consumer goods. These final consumer products will be sold to Europe and the United States, and some of them will be sold to China. In addition, agricultural products from Southeast Asia are very suitable for railway transportation into China.

In this context, in November 2020, Chengdu International Railway Port Investment and Development Company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Laos Boding Economic Zone Development Group and Yunnan Intercontinental Express Logistics Company. All parties will jointly build a southbound rail transport channel. Create an open logistics channel connecting inland, radiating South Asia and Southeast Asia.

At the event site, the management committee of Shuangliu Park of Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone signed a tripartite agreement with the Management Committee of Kunming Area (Kunming Economic Development Zone) of China (Yunnan) Free Trade Zone and the Management Committee of China Laos Mohan-Boding Economic Cooperation Zone Regional cooperation agreement. Airport Modern Service Company and Yunnan Intercontinental Express Logistics Company signed a China-Laos channel cooperation agreement.

In the next step, Chengdu will gradually improve the speedy international air-rail intermodal trains to Europe, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Realize that the total number of annual international train channels is no less than 500, and ASEAN overseas warehouses are no less than 3-5, becoming an important global supply chain service node and a regionally influential international logistics distribution hub. Editor/Tian Zengpeng