A China-Europe freight train, which was loaded with machinery parts, daily electrical appliances, textiles, and clothing, departed from the Qingdao Multi-modal Transport Center in the China-SCO demonstration zone on Nov 14 after passing through customs.

Trucks carrying goods depart from the Qingdao Multi-modal Transport Center in the China-SCO demonstration zone. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]

With 50 carriages in total, this freight train carried 100 standard containers of cargo weighing 1,200 tons. It will leave the country via the Khorgos land port in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and arrive in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.

"The goods can reach their destination in about six days, which is two-thirds less time than shipping through the Suez Canal to European ports and then transshipment to Central Asia," said Wang Jing, manager from a local logistics company.

Due to the increase in cargo volume at ports, Jiaozhou customs has opened special channels, implemented a clearance reservation service, encouraged enterprises to complete customs clearance procedures in their territory, and further improved port clearance capacity.

Jiaozhou customs has supported the business expansion of the Qilu China-Europe freight train. Since the beginning of this year, the special train for export goods of contracted projects, the first special cold chain train for fresh vegetables in China, the first special train for cross-border e-commerce goods in Shandong, and other special train services have been launched in the China-SCO demonstration zone.

Qingdao customs officials inspect containers. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]

Qingdao Port is the largest foreign trade port in northern China, with obvious maritime advantages. It is the most convenient logistics channel for containers entering from Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea to be transferred to Central Asia and Europe through the Qingdao Multimodal Transport Center in the China-SCO demonstration zone.

According to Jiaozhou customs' statistics, a total of 455 China-Europe freight trains departed from Qingdao Multimodal Transport Center in the first 10 months of the year, up 42.6 percent year-on-year.

The SCO demonstration zone is designed to serve Qingdao's new position as a pivot to connect the East and West through its land-sea transport systems.

According to customs statistics, Qingdao saw its foreign trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative increase 48 percent year-on-year to 210.33 billion yuan ($32.92 billion) in the first 10 months of the year.