Changsha sees surging goods transported through China-Europe freight train service

On April 18, a freight train loaded with automobiles and auto parts pulled out of the Changsha International Railway Port, heading for Minsk, the capital of Belarus. According to the Xingsha Customs Authority on April 24, Changsha handled 372 China-Europe freight train trips in the first quarter of 2024, up 83.3% year on year. The weight of transported goods rose 92.3% to 266,000 tonnes. The China-Europe freight train service has become an important trade channel between Hunan and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. 

Exports of bulk equipment products through China-Europe freight train services often face challenges such as large in size, heavy in weight, and large quantity of non-standard parts. To address these problems, the Xingsha Customs Authority worked with the China-Europe Operation Center to study features of construction machinery and automotive products and make adaptive transformations for these non-standard products. These customized solutions help solve the container loading problem of large scale equipment and better serve the export of such products. 

A few days ago, 600 aerial work platforms developed by the Hunan Sinoboom Intelligent Equipment Co, Ltd. (Sinoboom) were transported to European countries through the China-Europe freight train service for the first time. "The customs authority gave us advice on how to make design and transformations adapted to rail transport and provided us with customized loading solutions," said a person in charge of Sinoboom, adding that compared to marine shipping, the freight train service helped reduce the shipping time by one month, effectively meeting the delivery needs of foreign customers. In a bid to expand the export of complete vehicles, the Xingsha Customs Authority has supported the export of automobiles through a JSQ freight train. The shipping ability of the special train model doubled compared to that of container trains, saving over 30% of logistics costs for enterprises. 

According to the Xingsha Customs Authority, equipment manufacturing products valued at 940 million yuan were transported by China-Europe (Changsha) freight trains in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 18.6%.