Hunan launches 68 rail-sea transport freight trains this year

A special export freight train of the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa sea-rail transport service started off from a chemical engineering company in Zhuzhou on May 30.

The train, carrying 400 tons of silicon dioxide, departed from the freight station of the Zhuzhou 336 special freight line. It will arrive at the Nansha Port in Guangzhou for shipping after 24-hour railway transportation, and reach the Ho Chi Minh Port in Vietnam on June 12.

So far, 68 freight trains have been launched through the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa sea-rail transport service this year.

Conventionally, the cargos ought to be transported by automobiles to a wharf in Changsha, and then take barges to the Shanghai Port for being shipped overseas. Impacted by the COVID-19, 25 to 35 days would be spent via such river-sea transport mode. However, the rail-sea transport service can shorten the transportation time to about 15 days, which helps accelerate delivery of the exported goods. Meanwhile, the cost of domestic railway transport is 60% lower than that by road transportation, and roughly on par with that by waterway.

Beginning operation in September 2021, the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea transport service is one of Hunan’s five major international logistics channels. With the main hub and departure station in Zhuzhou, it assembles cargos for import and export from Hunan and other provinces in central and western China. These cargos would be transported by freight trains southward to the port cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and then be shipped to all around the world.