A China-Europe freight train loads 110 twenty-foot equivalent units of goods bound for Russia in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, on Dec 22, 2023. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Jinhua is emerging as a pivotal player in global trade, leveraging its position as a crucial hub for both inland and maritime commerce.

The China-Europe freight train now operates 26 routes from Jinhua, connecting over 160 cities in over 50 countries across Eurasia. Simultaneously, Jinhua's sea-rail intermodal links to Ningbo-Zhoushan Port have elevated the city to the port's "sixth port area", commanding over one-sixth of the port's total sea-rail intermodal transportation volume.

The East China International Combined Transport Port was established to support Jinhua's development into an international land port hub.

A freight train departed from the port carrying 110 TEUs of goods bound for Europe on Nov 25. From January to September, the China-Europe freight train operated 2,051 trains, transporting 167,000 TEUs, an increase of 3.1 percent.

Jinhua's pilot program for land port tax refunds, launched in September last year, has enabled enterprises to apply for tax refunds after goods leave the land port without waiting for customs procedures at the exit port.

The initiative had benefited 1,958 enterprises as of October and expedited refund cycles by 5 to 30 days.

In the first 10 months, Jinhua saw its imports and exports grow by 14.0 percent to 734.71 billion yuan ($101.06 billion), ranking second in the province.