As of Feb 16, Jinhua in East China's Zhejiang province had conducted 29 China-Europe freight trains bound for Central Asian countries this year.
"Conventional logistics routes, which involve land transport from Jinhua to a seaport followed by maritime shipping, usually take more than 40 days," said Xu Weiqiang, president of Jinhua-based Crown Power Tools Co. He added that the newly launched China-Europe freight train services have significantly cut travel time, enhanced the company's client satisfaction, and improved its products' market competitiveness.
Jinhua enterprises have long maintained close trade ties with Central Asia. The city's freight toward Central Asia relies on both westward railway transport and eastward maritime transport. The former mode now takes around just one week.
A China-Europe freight train departs from Jinhua, Zhejiang province, to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. HU XIAOFEI/FOR CHINA DAILY
