Beijing inaugurates new China-Europe freight train route

Experts predict the China-Europe freight train, a flagship BRI project, will see explosive growth in 2023 as the initiative enters its 10th year. This move aligns with Beijing’s goal of further opening up and becoming an international consumption centre.

Freight train services from China to Europe have already completed 65,000 runs, serving as a “steel camel fleet” between China and Europe, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang was quoted as saying by local media reports.

In January alone, 1,410 China-Europe freight trains carried 147,000 standard containers of goods, marking the 33rd consecutive month of more than 1,000 trains being operated. The number of trains increased by 6 per cent year-on-year (YoY), while the number of containers rose by 13 per cent.

Bilateral trade between China and Russia has also grown rapidly in recent years, with the goal of increasing their bilateral trade volume to $200 billion by 2024. In 2022, bilateral trade surged 34.3 per cent YoY to a record high of 1.28 trillion yuan ($190 billion) in yuan-denominated terms, while in the first two months of 2023, trade rose by 36.4 per cent to hit 232.5 billion yuan.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (NB)