At 11:00 on August 7, the siren sounded, and the China Europe train loaded with "made in Hebei" set out from Shijiazhuang international dry port and headed for Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
This is the 100th international train from Shijiazhuang international dry port this year. In 2020, the number of China Europe trains was 105.
Why has the number of China Europe trains from Hebei increased significantly? What will these distant trains bring to relevant industries and enterprises in Hebei? What expectations do all parties have for this "steel camel team"?
A few days ago, the reporter walked into Shijiazhuang international dry port to find out.
The demand for trains has increased greatly
At 11:00 on August 7, the 100th international train of this year left from Shijiazhuang international dry port. This China Europe train has 52 cars and 104 TEUs. The export goods are bicycle accessories, children's handcarts and textiles.
Only 30 minutes later, the 101st international train was ready for loading. On the container platform, the front crane and gantry crane for handling goods have been busy. After weighing by truck scale, the loaded vehicle shall unload at the platform, and then drive away after weighing twice.
"In the past two years, the demand for China Europe trains has been very large, and it is difficult to find one container." Guo Quanfu, deputy general manager of Shijiazhuang international dry port, said that the import and export goods of the train cover many advantageous products of Hebei Province, such as ceramics, automobiles, auto parts, building materials, bags, mechanical equipment, clothing, bicycle parts, solar modules, epidemic prevention materials and PVC gloves.
On June 29, 2018, the first China Europe train from Shijiazhuang International Dry Port departed for Russia. On August 28, 2020, China's first China Europe train (Moscow Shijiazhuang) loaded with small package vegetable oil imported from Russia arrived at Shijiazhuang international dry port. After the normalization of the outbound journey in 2018, the return journey of the train also formed a normal operation.
From 13 trains in 2019 to 105 trains in 2020, Shijiazhuang has jumped to the 25th place among the 67 cities with China Europe trains. So far this year, the number of operating trains has exceeded 100, and the China Europe Express has completed another leap.
Guo Quanfu introduced that this year, Shijiazhuang international dry port has opened 100 China Europe and Central Asia trains, with a total of 9856 TEUs, a cargo weight of more than 73000 tons, and a cargo value of more than 1.9 billion yuan. Compared with the same period in 2020, the traffic volume increased by 138%, the cargo weight increased by 133%, and the cargo value increased by 209%.
Not only in Shijiazhuang, but also in the face of huge demand, this year, China Europe express trains from international dry ports across the province have successively opened.
On April 17, the second China Europe Express "Handan international dry port" in Hanshan District of Handan City in 2021, loaded with 42 vehicles, set out from the North freight yard and headed for the Russian capital Moscow.
On May 26, the first domestic "zero subsidy" and normalized China Europe train (Baoding Moscow Minsk) started from jingxiongbao International Smart port in Lianchi District, Baoding city.
On July 30, the 39902 train loaded with 50 containers was sent from Jingtang Port Area of Tangshan port to Moscow, the capital of Russia. This is the second "China Mongolia Russia" train operated by Tangshan port within 10 days.
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With the rapid development of China Europe Express train, foreign trade enterprises in Hebei have boarded this export train.
"Our company runs 1-2 export trains and 2 import trains every month on the China Europe line. It mainly transports clothing, compressors, machine parts, gloves and other goods, most of which come from Hebei manufacturers." Wang Yu, general manager of the international freight Department of Sinotrans Hebei Branch, said, "due to the different industrial structures in various parts of the province, the export goods are not the same. For example, Xingtai City exports a large number of baby strollers and bicycle parts. The trading company will adjust the categories and quantities in real time according to the frequency of customer demand."
According to customs statistics, in the first half of this year, Shijiazhuang customs supervised 80 China Europe trains and 7635 TEUs of freight volume, up 1.42 times and 1.51 times respectively year-on-year. The business development maintained a rapid growth momentum.
According to the relevant person in charge of Shijiazhuang customs, in the first half of the year, on the basis of the normal operation of the existing three outbound lines in Moscow, Russia, Russia, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the China Europe Express Line in Hebei Province was added to Hamburg and Duisburg, Germany, and the scope of operation was further extended to central and Eastern European countries.
"With the continuous growth of the number, China Europe trains are becoming more mature, and the quality and efficiency of the operation are constantly improving." Experts said that in recent years, Hebei Province has effectively responded to the impact and challenges brought by the complexity and changefulness of the international market, implemented a more proactive opening strategy, adhered to the simultaneous development of "introducing" and "going out", actively integrated into the national "the Belt and Road" construction, encouraged and supported enterprises to carry out overseas investment, established and improved foreign economic and trade cooperation platforms, and basically formed an all-round and multi-level opening pattern.
A virtuous circle has been formed
On July 30, a China Europe train from Shijiazhuang to Hamburg, Germany left the Shijiazhuang international dry port and will arrive in Hamburg, Germany 15 days later.
With the rapid development of China Europe Express, timeliness and stability are its core competitiveness. It is understood that the transportation time of China Europe Express is only 1 / 3 of that of sea transportation, and the transportation cost is only 1 / 5 of that of air transportation.
"The timeliness of this channel should be faster than that of sea transportation, and the cost should be lower than that of air transportation. Moreover, its transportation volume is also among them. In particular, compared with the slow air (non-direct), the China Europe train not only has an absolute advantage in price, but also has a time difference of about one week." Wang Yu said that compared with the two phases, enterprises choose some products with high time requirements to take the China Europe train.
With the improvement of railway transport infrastructure in Asia and Europe, the more coordinated and convenient customs clearance standards, and the integration and speed-up of various train lines, the advantages of China Europe train will be further highlighted.
Wang Yu told the reporter that the timeliness and stability of the trains can speed up the order delivery cycle of high-end products or the cycle of raw material organization, thus shortening a cycle of the supply chain. As a result, the weekly transfer of enterprise funds will be accelerated and the cash flow will be more abundant. The increase in the number of China Europe express trains, the improvement in transport capacity and the expansion in scale have further enhanced its stability and the confidence of the market, forming a virtuous circle.
Insiders pointed out that although most of the goods transportation between China and Europe is still completed by sea at this stage, the land transportation system between China and Europe plays a role of power source and stabilizer in global economic and trade cooperation.
On August 3, A.P. Muller, the world's largest container shipping company? Maersk Group said that the strong performance of China's exports to the United States will drive the global container demand to grow by 6% to 8% in 2021, compared with the previous estimate of 5% to 7%.
Maersk is the world's largest container shipping company, accounting for nearly 20% of the global shipping market. It has a pivotal "wind vane" position in the international shipping field.
"Shijiazhuang international dry port has become the departure port of Maersk and other international liner companies." Guo Quanfu said that as the fastest developing region in northern China, Maersk has been seeking to extend ocean transportation to the inland of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. Maersk takes Shijiazhuang international land port as the departure port, which brings more convenient and unimpeded international sea rail intermodal transport services.
In addition, the integration of China EU trains and cross-border e-commerce has accelerated.
Recently, at the matchmaking meeting between Shijiazhuang foreign trade enterprises, cross-border e-commerce enterprises and China Europe Express and free trade zone, the relevant responsible person of Shijiazhuang Municipal Bureau of Commerce said that it would provide effective connection between Shijiazhuang foreign trade enterprises and cross-border e-commerce enterprises and China Europe Express, a new channel for international trade and transportation. By creating "smart sharing" logistics, we will build a new channel for the integrated development of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce and logistics freight forwarding, give play to the functions of logistics organization, industrial gathering and commodity distribution of dry ports, reduce logistics costs, promote the integration of foreign trade enterprises and logistics enterprises, and further promote the "going out" of enterprises.
"In a comprehensive view, the rapid development of China EU express trains is due to the continuous progress of the construction of the 'the Belt and Road' in recent years." Some experts believe that under the promotion of the national "the Belt and Road" construction, consolidating and expanding the development scale of China EU train, constantly improving the development efficiency, and adhering to the market-oriented operation mode under the guidance of the government will help to vigorously break the "blocking points" and "blocking points" at home and abroad, coordinate the coordinated development of relevant regions, and promote the stable and long-term development of China EU train.
"Going out" of advantageous capacity
At 14:54 on July 23, a 75100 train loaded with 50 containers departed from Jingtang Port Station of Daqin depot of China Railway Taiyuan Bureau Group Co., Ltd. and headed for Moscow, the capital of Russia. This is the first China Europe train from Jingtang Port to Russia.
This China Europe train is loaded with export goods such as textiles, hardware and general merchandise. It transits through Erlian station and is expected to arrive at Moscow volsino station in 20 days.
The normalization of the first China Europe train from Jingtang Port area to Russia will help Hebei Province's economic and trade cooperation with countries along the "the Belt and Road", and provide strong railway transportation support for Tangshan to become a window city for economic cooperation in Northeast Asia and Europe, a new industrialization base in the Bohai Rim region, and an important fulcrum in the capital economic circle.
"The influence of China Europe Express Trains on countries and regions along the 'the Belt and Road' is growing. Not only are there more and more varieties of goods, but also the radiation range is growing." Guo Quanfu told the reporter that relying on the advantageous industries such as steel and automobile, the enterprises in Hebei Province are determined to open up the international market. At present, the advantageous products of Hebei Province, such as auto parts, bicycles and accessories, mechanical equipment, clothing, shoes and hats, and baby carriages, are continuously sent to the countries along the "the Belt and Road" through the China Europe Express.
Actively integrate into the construction of "the Belt and Road" and promote the "going out" of advantageous production capacity. The export product structure of Hebei Province has been further optimized and the quality has been significantly improved.
According to the relevant person in charge of the statistics and Analysis Department of Shijiazhuang customs, in the first half of this year, the import and export of Hebei Province to the countries along the "the Belt and Road" reached 73.99 billion yuan, an increase of 28.9% year on year, of which the export reached 54.36 billion yuan, an increase of 29.2%; Imports were 19.63 billion yuan, an increase of 28.1%. In terms of export commodities, the export of electromechanical products to countries along the line was 16.74 billion yuan, an increase of 27.9%; The export of steel products was 11.09 billion yuan, an increase of 25%; The export of clothing and clothing accessories was 4.82 billion yuan, an increase of 1.5 times; The export of textile yarns, fabrics and their products was 4.44 billion yuan, an increase of 31.4%.
On August 7, outside the delivery warehouse of COSCO marine soda ash in Shijiazhuang International Dry Port Park, employees were busy loading goods.
"This is a transit warehouse. After the landing of Shijiazhuang international dry port, a large number of foreign trade enterprises set up transit warehouses here." Guo Quanfu said that nowadays, logistics warehousing and container projects of a number of leading enterprises such as JD logistics and CIMC Zhenhua have settled here. In order to further graft the resources along the "the Belt and Road" and drive the two-way import and export trade between Hebei and Europe, Shijiazhuang international dry port will focus on promoting the construction of bonded logistics center, grain and meat import supervision site, China Europe Express Railway special line, automobile industrial park, e-commerce Industrial Park, cold chain logistics and digital intelligence logistics park.
According to the relevant person in charge of Handan International Dry Port Co., Ltd., some foreign trade enterprises have set their eyes on Handan for the convenience of logistics. The development of high-end commercial logistics in Handan is driven by the China Europe Express Handan dry port, a large number of upstream and downstream industries and the brand driving effect.
Since last year, the China EU Express has not only realized "going" but also "returning".
In August last year, the China Europe train loaded with small package of sunflower seed oil imported from Russia arrived at Shijiazhuang international dry port. This is the first special return train for small package of vegetable oil imported from Russia in China.
Guo Xiaowei, chairman of Xingtai lanli import and export trade Co., Ltd., goes to Shijiazhuang international dry port for business every once in a while. The sunflower seed oil he imported from Russia was stored in the bonded logistics center here. In the past, the company had to transport a lot of imported goods to cities outside the province where China Europe trains were operated because Hebei did not operate China Europe trains.
Russian food, German machinery, French red wine, and non-ferrous metals in Central Asia are directly transported to Hebei Province through the China Europe Express train, and enter the counters of the provincial capital supermarkets and the production workshops of enterprises.
In addition, with the in-depth implementation of the coordinated development strategy of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, some high-value precision equipment in Beijing has been transferred from air transport to railway transport.
It is understood that Handan dry port will join hands with Tianjin port to actively promote the multimodal transport business from Handan to Tianjin port, and send the export goods from Southern Hebei to Tianjin port through the railway container train after the dry port is assembled, so as to reduce the transportation cost of enterprises, improve the transportation efficiency and contribute to the construction of "Beijing Tianjin Hebei on the track".
Experts believe that the China Europe train from Hebei is turning from "no return" to "full return", from "local" to "Beijing Tianjin" and then to "global".
Journalists Observation
"Steel camel team" highlights the strong vitality of the "the Belt and Road"
Looking at the development trend of China EU trains in recent years, especially in the past two or three years, the rapid development of China EU trains in Hebei Province is actually a microcosm of the strong vitality of the "the Belt and Road" initiative.
Ten years ago, in March 2011, the first China Europe train was sent from Chongqing to Duisburg, Germany; Five years ago, in June 2016, China Europe Express was unified.
Over the past 10 years, the number of China Europe trains has been rising steadily, and the "steel camel team" has been developing vigorously.
In Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the comprehensive heavy container rate of China Europe trains has increased to 96.3% in 2020. The source of goods has expanded from electronic products such as mobile phones and computers to more than 40 categories such as clothes, shoes and hats, cars and accessories. In 2020, the import and export volume of Sichuan Province to countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" will reach 245.49 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 24%.
Relying on the China Europe train, Henan opened customized cooperative trains such as Dongfanghong tractor, Xinyang tea, Nanyang mushroom, Shangqiu cotton, etc., to promote the export of characteristic agricultural products in the province. In 2020, the total import and export value of Henan reached 665.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.4%, 14.5 percentage points higher than the national growth rate.
According to the data of China Railway Group Co., Ltd., the total number of China Europe express trains has exceeded 40000, reaching 41008, and 12400 in last year alone. In the first half of this year, China Europe Express continued its strong development momentum, with a total of 7323 trains, up 43% year-on-year. A total of 701000 TEUs of goods were transported, up 52% year-on-year. Among them, in May and June, the number of trains per month exceeded 1300, and remained above 1000 for 14 consecutive months.
Not only is there a large number of trains, but also China Europe trains are more dense and widely distributed. Data show that at present, 29 provinces, autonomous regions and cities in China have run China Europe trains, and 31 domestic cities have run more than 100 trains; Overseas, China Europe Express has reached 168 cities in 23 countries in Europe.
The relevant person in charge of China Railway Group said that with the continuous growth of the number, the China Europe trains are becoming more mature and the quality and efficiency of the operation are constantly improving. In terms of the two important indicators of the heavy container rate and the return to return ratio, in the first half of this year, they reached 98% and 85% respectively, and the return to return ratio reached a record high. In terms of the types of goods transported, the goods transported by China Europe Express train have expanded from electronic products such as notebook computers in the initial stage to more than 50000 product types such as auto parts and complete vehicles, chemicals, mechanical equipment, e-commerce postal parcels, medical devices, etc. the annual value of goods transported by the express train has increased from US $8 billion in 2016 to nearly US $56 billion in 2020, an increase of nearly 7 times.
Experts believe that as an important carrier of the international industrial chain and supply chain under the new situation, the China EU Express has undertaken a historical mission and played an important role in building a new development pattern. In particular, in the face of the sudden COVID-19 epidemic, the China EU train has achieved counter trend growth and safe and stable operation, demonstrating the strong vitality of the "the Belt and Road" initiative.
The China EU Express has opened a "win-win door", enabling China and the EU to complement each other's strengths and deepen cooperation, so that countries along the line can deeply feel the vast space of "China's opportunities". At present, the China Europe Express has laid 73 operating lines, crossing the main areas in the hinterland of Asia and Europe, reaching more than 160 cities in 23 countries in Europe. While bringing business opportunities to tens of thousands of Chinese and foreign enterprises, it has also promoted the prosperity and development of port economy and hub economy, and driven the rapid development of the economy along the line. Reprinted from: CNR (reporter Zhao Zezhong)