Multimodal transport system helps region write new chapter of prosperity

Once a vital commercial center along the ancient Silk Road, Chengdu is now writing a new chapter of prosperity through building a multimodal transport system, boosting its export-oriented economy and opening-up to the outside world.

On Sept 15, the first China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan road-rail combined transport international train — loaded with 20 containers of Chinese tea — departed from the Chengdu (Shuangliu) Air-Railway International Intermodal Port. It recently arrived at Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The train, adopting the multimodal transport system, went through Lanzhou in Gansu province to Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, it then transferred to the highway from the Xinjiang Irkeshtam and reached Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan.

“Compared with the traditional line, this multimodal train shortens the route by nearly 500 kilometers and saves three to five days of transport time,” said Zheng Shuangli, chairman of Chengdu Airport Modern Service Industry Development. Zheng added that the transportation mileage of the entire line is about 5,000 km and shipping time is 15 to 20 days.

The train is the latest in Chengdu’s construction of an international channel system from a global perspective.

Since the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt in September 2013, Chengdu has built a fast and smooth Eurasian Continental Bridge Economic Corridor and boosted the export-oriented economy.

The China-Europe (Chengdu) Railway Express was launched at Chengdu International Railway Port in 2013. After more than nine years of operation, the number of China-Europe (Chengdu) freight trains has been a priority of the country for many consecutive years.

“The number of trains launched is increasing year by year, and the operations are busier every year,” said Wang Weikun, deputy-general manager of Chengdu International Railway Express.

Wang said that the number of trains opened in Chengdu in 2013 was 30, and the number is now more than 2,000 a year. “We have witnessed Chengdu’s continuous expansion of opening-up and deep integration into the Belt and Road Initiative.”

The trains continue to ship out “Made in China” and “Made in Sichuan” goods such as electronic products, automobiles and machinery items. The trains have also brought in German cars, French wine, Russian wood, Polish beef and Italian furniture. It has changed the pattern of foreign trade in Chengdu and the western China.

For more than nine years, the China-Europe (Chengdu) freight trains have effectively guaranteed transportation of electronics, automobiles, smart home appliances, biomedicine and advanced materials. Chengdu currently helps to provide more than 300 key enterprises such as TCL, Dell, Lenovo and Geely with stable international logistics solutions. Since the opening of the China-Europe freight trains, trade exchanges under the BRI have risen rapidly.

Statistics show that Chengdu’s import and export to countries and regions involved in the BRI have maintained rapid double-digit growth. In the first half of this year, the foreign trade volume with countries and regions involved in the BRI reached 127.74 billion yuan ($17.95 billion), a year-on-year increase of 13.8 percent.

International trains services departing from Chengdu are still expanding and a coordinated operation pattern of multi-dimensional trains such as the China-Europe (Asia) trains, the Western Land-Sea New Corridor trains, and the China-Laos (Vietnam) trains have been formed.

The international cargo trains starting from Chengdu link more than 100 cities, forming a land-sea freight distribution system with the city as the main hub, westbound to Europe, northbound to Mongolia and Russia, eastbound to Japan and South Korea, and southbound to ASEAN countries.

While the expansion of international freight trains is accelerating, Chengdu’s aviation logistics system is also improving.

On Sept 15, a B747F all-cargo plane took off from Chengdu’s Shuangliu International Airport, loaded with 110,000 orders weighing nearly 100 metric tons from China’s leading cross-border e-commerce platform Shein to New York, the United States.

In the same month, an all-cargo direct flight from Chengdu to Chicago also made its maiden flight. The inaugural flight carried imported goods such as e-commerce retail items with a value of about 12 million yuan, and the outbound flight shipped Chinese-made electronic products and clothing goods with a value of nearly 150 million yuan to North America.

“The opening of the direct flight to Chicago will provide the Chengdu branches of multinationals such as Intel, Dell and Apple with greater and more efficient international aviation logistics and transportation capabilities, while further promoting the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain,” said an official in charge of the Chengdu Port Logistics Office.

In the first half of this year, Chengdu opened four new international freight routes to Tel Aviv in Israel, Liege in Belgium, Mumbai in India and Kathmandu in Nepal. The number of regular international freight routes increased to 19.

The passenger throughput of the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and the Tianfu International Airport was 15.84 million, ranking first among Chinese cities. The international (regional) cargo and mail throughput was 116,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 64.3 percent.

With the continuous expansion of the “air plus land” channel, Chengdu is striving to build a strong open cooperation carrier and create a first-class business environment.

Chengdu International Railway Port focuses on the three leading industries of international supply chain, international trade and intelligent manufacturing. It has introduced nearly 200 major industrialization projects with a total investment of more than 100 billion yuan.

TCL Optoelectronics Technology (Chengdu), located in the Comprehensive Bonded Zone of Chengdu International Railway Port, utilizes the bonded function of the comprehensive bonded zone to produce key components such as TV modules in the form of processing trade. It then transports them to Poland via the China-Europe freight train.

“The company has transferred 80 percent of its European orders to Chengdu, hoping to respond more quickly to the needs of European customers through the China-Europe freight train,” said Sun Xiuhong, head of TCL’s Chengdu branch.

“More than 90 percent of the components required by TCL’s six production lines in Poland’s assembly base pass through the China-Europe freight train in Chengdu.”

Relying on the Chengdu International Railway Port, the Asia-European Countries (Commodities) Pavilion has set up 34 characteristic country venues for Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania and other places, of which 32 venues of Italy, Germany and France have been put into operation.

A total of 14 major categories and more than 30,000 products from across the world — such as food and wine, maternal and child healthcare, special beauty makeup and imported cars — are displayed and sold in one stop. The Chengdu High-Tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone, which has been in operation for more than 10 years, has formed a relatively complete integrated circuit industry chain consisting of IC design, wafer manufacturing, packaging, testing and supporting projects.

It has attracted Fortune Global 500 companies such as Intel, Texas Instruments, Foxconn, Dell and Molex. This open area has also become the main force driving the growth of foreign trade in Sichuan.

Data from Chengdu Customs shows the total import and export volume of the Chengdu High-Tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone was 581.9 billion yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent. The trade volume has ranked first among all national comprehensive bonded zones since 2018.

Through deep participation in the international division of labor, Chengdu’s position in the global industrial and value chains has been continuously improved.

The city has become a hot spot for multinational companies. By the end of 2021, 312 Fortune Global 500 companies had settled in Chengdu and the city’s foreign direct investment ranks first in midwest China. The number of foreign consulates approved to be established in Chengdu has reached 21, also ranking first in the midwest. To date, Chengdu has established friendships or cooperative relations with 104 cities from 58 countries around the world.