The competition of China Railway Express is getting hotter. According to the latest statistics from various places, Chengdu, Chongqing and Xi’an have exceeded 1,000 trains in the cities in China currently. What’s more, as of the end of this year, the total number of domestic and European trains may exceed 5,000 from Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Yiwu and other 42 cities.
Wang Ming, the director of the Comprehensive Transportation Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that in some inland areas, China Railway Express are the driving force for gathering resources and forming logistics hubs. But we should put more attention to quality rather than quantity after reaching 1000 trains.
According to the statistics, shows that as of the end of October 2018, China Railway Express has exceeded 11,000, and 45 cities which has China Railway Express. The destination includes 15 countries in Europe and 11 countries in Asia for transporting 920,000 standard containers. A logistics research who has been engaged in the operation and research of the China Railway Express team, said that the 5000 represent the increase in quantity, and we should realize the breakthrough in the quality of the China Railway Express.
It is reported that the domestic government will completely cancel the local government’s allowance for the China Railway Express and execute full-market operations in 2020. It means that e next two years will be a crucial period forChina Railway Express. So there is facing a question with who can have more sources of supply, then who is likely to take the initiative in the market competition. Take China Railway Express of Chongqing as an example, its main categories of goods are from the initial notebook products, auto parts, communication equipment, etc., gradually expanded to chemicals, food, cold chain, medicine and medical equipment. At present, the supply of goods outside Chongqing accounts for more than 60%, while Xi’an has announced that its foreign goods supply accounted for 80%.
In addition to domestic supply, some China Railway Express cities begin to consider the transfer station for international sources. The earliest exploration is in Chongqing. Chongqing is promoting the development of entrepot trade, for example, it will build up the connection between China Railway Express(Chongqing) and the new channel of international land and sea trade to realize the entrepot trade between Europe and Asia through Chongqing. At present, there are two tests. The first one is that the Korean LG electronic products produced by Vietnam have been tested through this way, and arrived in Poland and Germany successfully. And the other one is the entrepot trade test of Belgian tobacco leaves to Japan.
Regarding the development of the future China Railway Express, Wang Ming believes that “In the competition, all localities should promote the high-quality development of the trains. We should realize expansion from the single channel economy to the comprehensive industrial layout and industrial chain.”
Reference: Translated from《中欧班列：开行量有望超5000列，财政补贴或2020年退出》——中欧班列热点论坛