Port economy provides ‘door’ to outside world
“Ports are the ‘doors’ to the outside world, and a key link in China’s new dual-circulation development pattern,” said Xu Xiangping, head of the Hunan Provincial Department of Commerce, referring to the development of the port economy as a new growth driver.
China-Europe freight trains have become a main force for the growth of Hunan’s port economy this year, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the local government.
A China-Europe freight train carrying 50 containers of auto parts set off from the Jinxia economic development zone in Changsha recently and arrived in Belarus 14 days later.
The auto parts were manufactured at Chinese automaker Geely’s production base in Hunan. The company has had its auto parts exported on 16 trains so far this year via the China-Europe freight service.
“In the past, it took 45 to 60 days to export by sea. Now, the China-Europe freight trains have greatly helped cut transportation time and costs,” said Ye Hongbin, general manger at a logistics company in Hunan.
“Although the epidemic has hindered global trade to some extent, our logistics has not been affected, which helps our clients honor their agreements in the interna
tional market,” Ye added.
On average, there are two ChinaEurope freight trains heading to Europe from Changsha’s Jinxia economic development zone a day. Even at the peak of the outbreak, Changsha did not suspend the freight trains.
In the first 10 months this year, Hunan set off 472 China-Europe freight trains, an increase of 32.6 percent from the same period last year.
The 472 freight trains carried a
total of 364,800 metric tons of cargo, up 15.9 percent year-on-year, with a total value reaching $1.85 billion.
To date, Hunan has opened 10 direct freight train routes to Europe and Asian countries, covering more than 30 countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.
Besides the China-Europe freight trains, Hunan has also seen substantial growth in its air and sea transportation.
From January to October, a total of 788 cargo planes took off from Hunan, up 203.3 percent from the same period in 2019.
The cargo planes transported 4.62 tons of goods, valued at $2.7 billion in total, up 94.9 and 319.1 percent yearon-year, respectively.
In August 2020, a regular air cargo route between Changsha and New York was launched, which is expected to further improve the development of Hunan’s cross-border ecommerce industry.
Hunan has opened 10 international air cargo routes connecting with the European Union, the United States and Asia and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with an international freight network connecting Hunan and the rest of the world beginning to take shape.
In the first 10 months of this year, the seven special customs supervision zones in Hunan saw import and export volume of $15.16 billion, an increase of 18.6 percent over the same period in 2019.