Export-bound cars await loading at Yantai Port, Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Foreign trade commercia vehicle shipments from Yantai Port in eastern China's Shandong province have increased significantly since the China-Europe Railway Express launched a special train for domestically produced commercial vehicles in Yantai in July, according to the port authority.

According to statistics, Yantai Port had in the first eight months of this year completed shipments of more than 260,000 foreign trade commercial vehicles for exports, international transshipments, and sea-rail combined transport, a year-on-year increase of 56.8 percent.

Among them,1,320 domestically produced commercial vehicles were sent from Yantai Port using the special train.

"In the past, shipping commercial vehicles from Yantai to overseas markets such as Europe and Central Asia required to be shipped through ports such as the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea before they were distributed to the corresponding countries. The whole process took about 45 days," said Li Jun, director of the production dispatching center of Yantai Port Ro-Ro Logistics. "Through the use of special trains, which can each ship up to more than 160 vehicles at a time, the whole process only takes about 20 days, and this greatly reduces logistics costs and duration."

The Yantai China-Europe freight train was put into operation in May 2019.

Over the past four years, the freight trains have provided strong support for Yantai's efforts in creating an international logistics channel that connects itself to Japan and South Korea to the east and Europe and Asia to the west.

Statistics show that in the first eight months of this year, 52 China-Europe freight trains were operated in Yantai, providing a stable and smooth cross-border logistics channel for Yantai enterprises to export their goods to countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.