China's landmark trade corridor sees surge in goods transport

A train runs on the railway that constitutes part of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor on Aug. 2, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

NANNING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a key logistics network connecting China's western regions to global markets, has transported 209,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) via intermodal rail-sea service in the first two months of this year, according to the China Railway Nanning Group.

This volume has already exceeded the total for 2019, marking a year-on-year increase of 58.4 percent, the railway group said.

In February, demand for freight transportation surged, with notable increases in the shipment of timber and stone materials from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as tea and roll paper from central China's Hunan Province.

Guangxi has recently allocated 1 billion yuan (about 139.39 million U.S. dollars) to support the development of the trade corridor this year.

The number of freight categories transported through the trade corridor via intermodal rail-sea service has risen to 1,234.

With an operational hub in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, this trade corridor connects global ports via railways, sea routes and highways, passing through southern Chinese provincial regions such as Guangxi and Yunnan.

The cargo service now covers 158 locations across 73 domestic cities and extends its reach to 556 ports in 127 countries and regions.