The first Dazhou Train of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) started in Dazhou, Sichuan, on November 27.

After collecting goods at Tuanjie Village Central Station in Shapingba District, the first train departed for Qinzhou Port, Guangxi, and then the freight was transferred to Singapore by sea.

The relevant person in charge of the Dazhou Municipal Government said that this train would advance the logistics integration in Dazhou, Wanzhou, and Beibu Gulf and effectively boost regional economic development. According to the Port and Logistics Office of Chongqing Municipal Government, the train is a specific practice of Sichuan-Chongqing cooperation. It embodies the continuous optimization of goods and routes of ILSTC.

This year, ILSTC has eyed many similar scenes and evaluations. This large corridor initiated by Chongqing to link western provinces, regions, and cities is accelerating its development towards a new hub for western opening-up.

ILSTC injects new impetus into western opening-up

The geographic position of being located in the inland hinterland and far from ports was a handicap to Chongqing’s opening-up and development. ILSTC has become the crux to solve the problem.

In the form of rail-sea intermodal transportation, the trains departing from Chongqing can be transferred by sea in Qinzhou Port, Guangxi, to Singapore and other ASEAN ports, and thus are connected to international sea shipping network. Compared with traditional river-sea intermodal transport, this new route will shorten the transportation time between Chongqing and significant ports in ASEAN by 15-20 days.

“This route solves a major ‘pain point’ in the opening up of the western region.” The relevant person in charge of the Port and Logistics Office said that Western China would no longer rely solely on the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, but capitalize on ILSTC as a new carrier to quickly sell various products around the world.

ILSTC’s role and influence are expanded continuously through enriching new goods supply, new business, and modern logistics

Nowadays, in addition to the main logistics organization form of rail-sea intermodal train, ILSTC has also witnessed two logistics modes of cross-border road transport and international rail-road intermodal transport.

Cross-border road transport counts on the arterial highways connecting the countries on the Indo-China Peninsula in Western China. Departing from Chongqing and other places, buses enter and exit through key border ports in Guangxi, Yunnan, and other provinces and regions. In this way, the buses connect Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, and other countries. By the end of October this year, these buses had made 885 annual departures, totaling 1,810 departures.

International rail transport relies on the central railways linking the countries on the Indo-China Peninsula in Western China. Starting from Chongqing and other places, the trains enter and exit through key border ports in Guangxi, Yunnan, and other provinces and regions, connecting Vietnam.

ILSTC’s friendly tie has expanded to “13 + 1”, fostering multilateral cooperation

ILSTC’s current achievements must be credited to collaboration and co-construction.

China issued a notice on the convening of the Province-Ministry Joint Conference on the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor a few days ago. This conference will lay the foundation for the subsequent Inter-provincial Joint Conference on Consultation and Cooperation.

Meanwhile, neighboring countries have also shown great interest in ILSTC.

On the eve of National Day this year, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Vietnam and the Institute of Development Strategy under the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment jointly held the China-Vietnam Forum on Cooperation Opportunities and Potentials in the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Vietnamese side stated that it would actively partake in the construction of ILSTC, and it was accelerating the development of national expressways and planning the construction of railways.

Source: Chongqing Daily