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China Railway Express continues to explode
Seetao 2023-03-27 11:16
  • In the past ten years, China Railway Express has connected 108 cities in China and 208 cities in about 25 countries in Europe
  • The China Railway Express is also often called the steel camel team, and it is a strategic channel for China to reach Central Europe and Central Asia
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As an important estimated transportation channel, China Railway Express has injected strong impetus into the economic and trade cooperation of countries and regions along the Belt and Road. In the future, with the association of China Railway Express and Trans-Asian Railway, a wider range of logistics channel cooperation will be promoted. Since 2023, the number of China-Europe trains in various places has continued to grow, and market forces have played an increasingly important role in the operation of China-Europe trains. In the first two months, the number of China-Europe Railway Express Changan increased by 23.5% compared with the same period in 2022, and as of March 21, it had reached 1,006; in the first two months, Guangzhou Customs supervised the import and export of China-Europe Railway Express 68, a year-on-year increase 224%.

From the perspective of railway port data, as of March 21, there will be 1,020 China-Europe trains entering and leaving the country through the Manzhouli railway port in 2023, with 108,772 TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 9.68% and 22.17% respectively. The cumulative number of China-Europe trains passing through the Alashankou railway port Breakthrough 30,000 trains, transporting more than 2.7 million TEUs of goods.

During the epidemic, sea freight prices fluctuated, a box was hard to find, and routes were grounded. The China-Europe Railway Express played a role with its advantages in efficiency and price. Now that the prevention and control of the epidemic has changed, the China-Europe Railway Express continues to explode, showing that this international public logistics product is becoming a stable transportation choice for many companies. Southern Finance and Economics all-media reporters found that many new China-Europe train lines will expand to Central Asia and Southeast Asia in 2023, and the role of China-Europe trains is also increasingly diversified, serving the agglomeration and development of local characteristic industries.

Wang Guowen, director of the Institute of Logistics and Supply Chain Management of China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, said in an interview with reporters that since 2023, there will still be a relatively large increase in the operation of the China-Europe Railway Express. There are two geographical reasons, and the rapid development of China Railway Express in Central Asia and Southeast Asia is closely related to the increasing economic ties between China, ASEAN and RCEP countries, and the increasing trade demand. The main reason behind this is the decisive force of the market It also has the active encouragement and guidance of local governments in China.

China Railway Express orders continue to grow

The China Railway Express is also often called the steel camel team. It is a strategic channel from China to Central Europe and Central Asia. 2023 is the tenth year of operation. China National Railway Group Co., Ltd.'s work conference this year revealed that in the past ten years, the China-Europe Railway Express has connected 108 cities in China and 208 cities in about 25 European countries. A total of 65,000 trains have been operated and 6.04 million TEUs have been delivered.

The China-Europe Railway Express is a mode of transportation centered on railway freight. There are three transportation channels in the West, the Middle East, and the Middle East. The channel exits from Northeast my country via Manzhouli (Suifenhe).

In the past, China Railway Express received more government subsidies to operate, and local governments were also actively building strategic logistics channels. Especially during the epidemic, when shipping prices soared and air transportation was blocked, China Railway Express played an active role in stabilizing the supply chain. However, since 2023, sea and air freight have resumed stability, and orders for China-Europe trains have continued to grow. In the first two months, Guangzhou Customs supervised 68 China-Europe trains for import and export, carrying 6,456 standard containers and a cargo weight of 38,200 tons, a year-on-year increase of 224%, 207%, and 238% respectively.

In the first two months, 668 trains of the Changan China-Europe Railway Express departing from Xi'an, and core indicators such as operating volume, freight volume, and heavy container rate continued to rank first in the country; as of the end of February, China-Europe Railway Express (Zhongyu) 10 A total of more than 7,700 classes have been operated during the year.

Wang Guowen believes that in 2023, sea freight rates will decrease and air freight will resume, but orders for China-Europe trains will still increase significantly. There are two main reasons. These comparative advantages are conducive to the increase of orders; second, the geographical coverage of China-Europe Railway Express also has advantages. There are some structural reasons behind the increase in the total number of trains in Xi'an, Chongqing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and other cities. The number of orders and lines in Southeast Asia has increased. obvious.

The coverage of China Railway Express is also increasing, and the point-to-point transportation presents a hub-type linkage development trend. As of mid-March this year, 870 trains of China Railway Express have been in operation, with a cargo value of about 27 billion yuan, forming a collection and distribution network with multi-line operation, multi-point consolidation, and multimodal transportation, realizing the east, middle and west. The lines are fully covered, and there are currently 43 open lines in 38 to 5 rounds.

The linkage between China and Europe trains between cities is also increasing. In 2021, Chengdu and Chongqing have unified the call sign of the China Railway Express to Chongqing; in April 2022, the Henan China Railway Express will coordinate the railway stations in Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Xinxiang, Luohe, and Nanyang and name it China Railway Express (Zhongyu). ; In 2023, the Guangdong-Shaanxi (Guangzhou-Xi'an-Europe) international train will start.

Wang Guowen believes that in the past, government subsidies were used to guide the operation of China-Europe Railway Express, but after years of development, the degree of marketization of China-Europe Railway Express will become higher and higher, and the operation will further develop in a balanced market-oriented direction. At the same time, as the geographical coverage of China Railway Express becomes more comprehensive, the density of points will increase, and the trend of hub operation and joint operation will further develop.

Characteristic industries expand the incremental market

On March 9, a China-Europe freight train loaded with 200 Sichuan-made automobiles from Chengdu International Railway Port headed for Russia. This is the fifth vehicle export train issued by Chengdu International Railway Port this year; The X8186 train of 50 domestic new energy vehicles departed from Guangzhou International Port Station to Europe. This is the first China-Europe train of domestic new energy vehicles from Guangdong.

In fact, China-Europe trains in various places are launching customized services in combination with local characteristic industries to expand incremental markets.

In Guangzhou, the overall operation quality of Guangzhou China Railway Express is constantly improving, showing the characteristics of customized services and rich categories. Relying on the "cross-border e-commerce B2B + China Europe Railway Express" model, it attracts cross-border e-commerce and logistics supporting services that require overseas warehouses Suppliers gather. In the first two months, Guangzhou Customs has supervised the development of two China-Europe trains carrying cross-border e-commerce goods, with a total of 216 standard containers and a value of more than 40 million yuan.

In Henan, the China-Europe Railway Express (Zhongyu) also operates special trains for postal transportation, timber, mung bean, green tea, Yutong buses, and new energy vehicles. The Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe Railway Express has also added a large number of customized train services for local advantageous industries such as notebook computer manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing.

The rapid development of China Railway Express has not only brought opportunities for traditional small commodities such as shoes and hats and lamps, but also found new sales outlets and exports for high value-added products such as new energy vehicles, communication equipment, and electromechanical products. Xie Wanlin, Chief of the Customs Supervision Section of Guangzhou Station, said.

The freight rate is cheaper than air freight, and the efficiency is faster than sea freight. China Railway Express has become the choice of cross-border transportation for many companies at home and abroad. Ye Dan, senior director of the Business Operations and Purchasing Center of Shenzhen Dayang Logistics Co., Ltd., told reporters that from Guangzhou to Hamburg, Germany, it usually takes 32 days to ship by express ship, but it only takes 18 to 21 days for the China-Europe Express. Smartphones, TVs and other high-tech products made in Guangdong are of high value and fast update speed, and the timeliness and safety of the China Railway Express meet the requirements of customers.

Since the development of the China Railway Express, the goods transported have gradually expanded from mobile phones, computers and other IT products in the early days to clothing, shoes and hats, automobiles and accessories, grain, wine, coffee beans, wood, furniture, chemicals, mechanical equipment and other categories.

It is worth noting that Central Asia, as the transit country of China Railway Express in previous years, will also become the destination of many goods in 2023. Kyrgyzstan Cantonese Chamber of Commerce and Zhongyuguan Central Asia Resources Group Chairman Li Tiantao’s company has built overseas warehouses in Central Asia, mainly for e-commerce products, including daily necessities, household appliances, clothing, shoes and hats, etc. At present, more and more Chinese Merchants enter and use overseas warehouses.

Before using the China-Europe Railway Express, companies to Central Asia mainly used air and truck transportation. Most of the flights to Central Asia were transported in belly warehouses, which was greatly affected in terms of capacity and cargo type. Central Asian countries are landlocked. Air freight is the most efficient but relatively expensive. It is mainly for small-scale cargo trade and high-value cargo. For bulk cargo trade, the China-Europe Express will be more cost-effective. Li Tiantao said.

The first China Railway Express (Shandong, China-Dong Nai, Vietnam) arrived smoothly

In recent years, China Railway Express has continued to expand its eastern extension, develop southbound routes, and expand to Southeast Asian markets such as Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

One reason is that with the transformation of the global supply chain, more and more multinational companies have shifted their production chains to Southeast Asia; at the same time, the China-Europe Railway Express has comparative advantages in terms of transportation speed and volume; in addition, the China-Europe Railway Express also promotes the market economy in Southeast Asia. Exchanges, for example, wheat from Kazakhstan can be transported to the Southeast Asian market through the China-Europe Railway Express, and fruits from Southeast Asia can also be transported to Central Asia, opening up logistics channels to meet the needs of the two markets.

Wang Guowen believes that in the future, the newly opened southbound trains will also have saturated orders for imports, improve the operational efficiency of China-Europe trains, and the economic ties between China and RCEP countries, especially ASEAN, will increase significantly. Factors are the main influencing factors in the development of China Railway Express.

In the past, the trade structure between China and Southeast Asian countries was mostly based on domestic export of some consumer electronics products, import of raw materials and key components, or import of some high-end consumer goods. In the future, with China's industrial transfer to the entire Southeast Asia and new market development trends, China-Europe The listed trade direction and structure will change. It may be that more raw materials and parts are exported domestically, and then exported after processing and assembling abroad. Wang Guowen said.

As an important transportation channel, the railway can penetrate the hinterland of many countries to drive more in-depth economic and trade exchanges. In the future, with the association of China Railway Express and Trans-Asian Railway, a wider range of logistics channel cooperation will be promoted.

Wang Guowen believes that for inland cities, a railway port means that the inland area has become an open frontier, and logistics channels and facilities with low transaction costs will reduce the overall cost of industrial agglomeration and form new industrial clusters around the railway port.Editor/Ma Xue

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