A cargo train loaded with goods from Jakarta in Indonesia departs Xiamen for Duisburg in Germany, on July 24. [Photo/xmnn.cn]

A cargo train loaded with goods from Jakarta in Indonesia departed Xiamen, in eastern Fujian province, for Duisburg in Germany on July 24.

The goods are expected to arrive in the German city in 15 days via China-Europe freight trains – some 15 days earlier than goods transported by sea.

At the end of 2018, Xiamen Port received its first cross border transit cargo container from Bangkok, Thailand, and shipped it to Europe via China-Europe freight trains. Since then, relying on freight rail service, Xiamen has steadily been developing its transit business.

Data from Xiamen Customs showed that at the end of June, a total of 226 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and other regions and countries transited at Xiamen. Among them, 38 TEUs with a total value of $2.26 million from Taiwan passed through Xiamen to Eurasia, boosting the existing deep cooperation of cross-Straits logistics.

Statistics showed that since the China-Europe (Xiamen) freight trains started operations on Aug 16, 2015, 457 trips have been made on this rail line. Destinations of the freight trains have extended from Poland to Germany, Hungary, Russia and other European countries.