SCODA Becoming An International Logistics Channel for Belt and Road

On the evening of November 21, freight forwarders in the field at SCODA Qingdao Multimodal Transport Center, braving freezing winds, made final safety checks on a Eurasian freight train bound for Russia. The train is loaded with TV sets, electric ovens and other household appliances, and it takes about 15 days to reach Vorsino of Moscow, Russia.

At present, 22 international and domestic freight trains have been running regularly at the Qingdao Multimodal Transport Center at SCODA, including 13 international freight trains, such as Japan-South Korea Land-Sea Express, Central Asia Express and China-Europe Express.

"More than two years after the start of construction, SCODA has gradually become a Belt and Road international logistics channel connecting Japan, South Korea and the Asia Pacific in the east, Central Asia and Europe in the west, ASEAN and South Asia in the south, Mongolia and Russia in the north." said Zang Yuanqi, Deputy Director of the Department of International Logistics of the Administrative Committee of SCODA.

"Goods arriving here equals arriving at the terminal of Qingdao Port." said Li Xiaopeng, Manager of the Marketing Department of China Railway Container Qingdao Central Station. Goods from countries and regions along the Belt and Road arriving at SCODA by Eurasian block train are as good as arriving at Qingdao Port. And the goods can transit at the port to reach Japan and South Korea and other countries and regions by sea. Whereas the goods can also reach Belt and Road countries and regions through sea-rail multimodal transport.

It is understood that at present, 70% of the goods of SCODA are imported and exported through land-sea-rail multimodal transport.

In the first ten months of this year, 455 China-Europe block trains were operated in Qingdao Multimodal Transport Center of SCODA, up by 42.6% year-on-year. The container operation volume reached 723,000 TEUS, up by 22.1% year-on-year.

Furthermore, SCODA is constantly expanding and cultivating new types of trade, and adding SCO elements to international multilateral trade. In addition to introducing large trading platforms, it also conducts negotiations and cooperation with well-known domestic e-commerce enterprises to promote the development of cross-border e-commerce trade.

Statistics show that by the end of October this year, the volume of import and export from the SCODA to SCO countries increased by 131% compared with the same period last year, gradually becoming an important open platform for the international circulation, connecting the international and domestic markets.