Downtheline

China’s mutually beneficial Belt and Road Initiative building infrastructures to help economic development and people-to-people exchanges

Jin Haijun, a trader specializing in importing Spanish wines, is a happy man. The reason for his raised spirits lies in a railway line that now links the Spanish capital of Madrid to his hometown of Yiwu City in east China’s Zhejiang Province. The cargo line makes it possible to increase his annual imports to 1.5 million bottles.

“With the freight train running, my business is more competitive as the cost of importing wines decreased by 20 percent and the delivery can be done in a shorter time,” said Jin. He explained the wines were previously imported by sea as air freight is too expensive. Due to prolonged movement of bottles at sea, wines had to be kept still for two to six months before selling so that the flavor would not be compromised.

“Shortening the delivery period greatly relieves the stress on my company’s cash flow,” he added.

The cargo line helping Jin’s business is one of the ambitious projects fostered by China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It runs from Yiwu westward to Xinjiang Uygur