According to the Port and Logistics Office of Chongqing Municipal People’s Government on November 10, so far, more than 1,000 rail-sea intermodal freight trains under New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) have been launched. This number is expected to be 1,200 by the end of this year, up 30% yearly.

More than 1,000 rail-sea intermodal freight trains under New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) have been launched.

On the afternoon of November 6, an ILSTC rail-sea intermodal freight train loaded with chemical raw materials, general machinery products, electronics, and auto parts departed from Tuanjie Village, Shapingba District, to Qinzhou Port, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. “This is the 1,000th ILSTC rail-sea intermodal freight train from Chongqing this year,” said Liu Yizhen, Assistant to General Manager of New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor Operation Co., Ltd.

At the beginning of this year, the COVID-19 outbreak affected ILSTC rail-sea intermodal freight trains' operation. To minimize losses, relevant departments communicated with the operation quickly by giving full play to Chongqing’s position as an operation center to explore supplies in the western area to increase freight trains. Moreover, some districts and counties such as Fuling, Changshou, and Rongchang made active efforts to facilitate freight trains' opening to make ILSTC cover more areas.

The combination of ILSTC and China Railway Express (Yuxinou) can also be a new option for many logistics enterprises. Introduced by Chen Sizong, General Manager of China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (Chongqing) Logistics Development, many enterprises adopted the two channels to ship their goods to countries along the Belt and Road after initial progress was made in epidemic prevention and control. Data show that ILSTC was seamlessly connected with China Railway Express (Yuxinou), completing 1,376 TEUs of transshipment from January to October this year.

Meanwhile, amid the development of Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, in this July, the Port and Logistics Office of Chongqing Municipal People’s Government signed Memorandum of Understanding on Port and Logistics Cooperation in Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle and the Single Window Cooperation Agreement on Sichuan-Chongqing International Trade with Ports & Logistics Office of Sichuan Provincial People’s Government, advocating positive cooperation on the channel. As of October 23, ILSTC rail-sea freight trains (Chongqing–Qinzhou) have transported 3,879 TEUs of goods in Sichuan Province, accounting for 16.03% of the total, with a total shipment of 8,934 TEUs, accounting for 14.21% of the total.