Freight growth

Since the plan was issued, more freight train services have operated along the corridor to boost international trade despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from January to November showed that ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner, replacing the European Union.

According to China Railway Corp, the national railway operator, a total of 3,600 sea-rail train services operated along the corridor last year, a rise of 73 percent year-on-year. They also handled 190,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers, an increase of 80 percent.

According to China Railway Container Transport, a subsidiary of China Railway Corp, from January to October some 124 freight train services operated between Nanning, capital of Guangxi, and Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, a year-on-year increase of 63 percent. This year, it expects to operate 200.

The freight trains travel between the two cities in three days. The outbound service－departing from Nanning and arriving in Hanoi－is loaded with cargo including daily commodities, electronic components, mechanical equipment and photovoltaic products. The inbound service mainly carries goods including tropical fruits from Vietnam and mineral products.

Opened in 2018, the number of services has increased each year, according to the company.

The service has been in regular operation since August 2019－running three services a week.

To reduce travel time, the cross-border train operates on a one-stop basis without the need to change carriages at the Pingxiang railway port in Guangxi, where the cargo can be inspected upon arrival.

According to the company, products from ASEAN countries such as fruit, electrical products and daily necessities take the return train and arrive in Nanning and are then sent across China.

Those products can also be sent to European countries via Chongqing and Chengdu by China Railway Express, which is the China-Europe freight train service.

"Thanks to the corridor, the cost of logistics has been greatly reduced," said Lin Junda, a manager of Guangxi Great Southern Gate Cross-Border E-commerce Operation, a company that handles logistics from Guangxi to Southeast Asian countries.

With a stable volume of cargo, a high frequency of trucks transporting goods and government subsidies, transport costs along the corridor have been reduced, he added.

Lin's company usually uses trucks to send cargo from Nanning to the port of Qinzhou in Guangxi and then sends it overseas by ship, mainly to Malaysia.

It takes about 15 days from Nanning to Malaysia, he said.