Key gateway

Horgos Port in Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture, another booming border port in Xinjiang, is located nearly 280 km south of Alataw Pass.

A historical gateway, Horgos translates in Mongolian as "the place where camel caravans pass", and in Kazakh as "the place where wealth accumulates".

From January to October, an estimated 6,433 China-Europe freight trains passed through Horgos Port, a rise of 9.8 percent year-on-year.

Local officials have said repeatedly that if railways can be compared to arteries, then roads bear comparison to capillaries.

Chen Pengde, deputy head of Horgos Customs, said Horgos road port is the longest-established, highest-capacity and most comprehensively equipped first-class land port in China.

In the first three quarters of this year, the road port's import and export volume reached about 1.36 million tons, up by about 120 percent year-on-year.

Local statistics show that as of Nov 3, vehicle exports through the port exceeded 100,000, representing year-on-year growth of more than 177 percent.

Hu Laijie, a senior official at the Horgos Port Administration, said Horgos is the largest land port for China's vehicle exports.

Gu Haifeng, manager of a logistics company in Horgos, seized the opportunity to leave Zhejiang province to find new business opportunities.

Due to increasing exports, Gu's company has transported more than 2,000 vehicles to European and Central Asian markets since May.

As customers from Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus favor Chinese cars, several new energy vehicle brands, including Li Auto, Geely and Zeekr, sell well in these markets, Gu said.

Car transporters loaded with vehicles made in China can complete clearance procedures at Horgos Port within two hours, he said.