County in E China gears up to build international land port

A China-Europe freight train leaves the Xiangtang international land port in Nanchang county, east China's Jiangxi province, for Moscow, Russia, June 8, 2020. (People's Daily Online/Hu Guolin)

As a train whistle blew, a China-Europe freight train left an international land port hub in Xiangtang township, Nanchang county, east China's Jiangxi province, bringing 96 containers of Jiangxi-produced commodities, including all-in-one desktops, tapes and printer cartridges, to Moscow, Russia.

Over the past several years, Nanchang county has continuously opened the international land port by building it into a major platform and passage for foreign trade and advancing the development of industries.

The international land port has developed 13 routes for international freight trains and rail-sea combined transport.

Last year, China-Europe freight trains made 127 trips to and from the international land port, transporting a total of 11,454 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of loaded containers, a year-on-year increase of 5.83 percent and 8.04 percent, respectively.

A total of 640 trips were made for rail-sea combined transport, exchanging 34,918 TEUs of loaded containers, up 19.85 percent and 61.94 percent year on year, respectively.

Last year, 1,328 vehicles produced by Jiangxi automaker Jiangling Motors Co., Ltd. were exported through a newly opened route dedicated to shipping the vehicles of the company. More than 160,000 vehicles were transported by railway, growing 49.61 percent compared with those in the previous year.

Xiangtang, as an inland township located neither close to the sea nor rivers, faces high logistics cost and low logistics efficiency in developing export-oriented economy. However, it now made tremendous success in this regard.

Fu Xiangyu, deputy mayor of Nanchang county gave two reasons behind the success: the advantages the township enjoys as becoming a traffic hub, and the favorable price and efficiency of shipping.

Xiangtang township is home to China's second largest westward freight transportation station, and serves as a key logistics stop and cargo distribution center for Jiangxi and even central China at large. More than 70 percent of the goods from southern Jiangxi are shipped via the township.

To cut logistics costs for enterprises, the Xiangtang international land port provides companies with whole-trip railway freight subsidies and is pushing forward with the construction of a more intelligent port. It offers same shipment rate with that offered in coastal areas, and the efficiency of customs clearance is also similar to that in coastal areas.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has opened in Xiangtang township a smart logistics park enpowered by robots, which can greatly improve the efficiency of warehousing. It mirrors the trend of optimizing and upgrading modern logistics in the international land port.

The international land port has actively learnt from the experience and wisdom of other areas, and mapped out its development route in a science-based manner.

The port has deepened its relationship with industries and the city, created a comprehensive industrial service ecosystem, and pooled various production factors such as logistics, industries, talents and capital with its transportation advantages.

As a result, the Xiangtang international land port has established an industrial system with modern logistics industry as the pillar, and supplemented by advanced manufacturing and high-end services.

Nanchang county has also introduced various policies to support the development of the international land port, including rent cut, tax incentives, and financial support for companies.

Last year, a batch of projects were signed at the land port, with a total investment of 12.33 billion yuan ($1.88 billion).