The number of China-Europe freight trains rose significantly in the first 10 months of this year in the Multimodal Transport Center of the China-SCO demonstration zone in Qingdao, with a record 620 trains being put into operation, up 36.3 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from Jiaozhou customs.

Jiaozhou customs officials inspect a China-Europe freight train. [Photo/Dazhong Daily]

There were 366 outbound trains, which accounted for 59 percent of the total figure. The main exported commodities were mechanical and electrical products, chemicals and daily necessities, and the main imported commodities were primary products such as boards, soybeans and wheat bran particles, which were transported on 254 return trips.

"As the end of the year approaches, export demand for holiday goods and small home appliances continues to grow, and our customers are rushing to deliver goods via the China-Europe freight trains," said Lu Junlin, general manager of a Qingdao-based cross-border e-commerce company.

The stability and efficiency of China-Europe freight trains have attracted more and more enterprises to expand their business through railway logistics, according to a local customs official.

In response to the development of China-Europe freight trains, the local customs has introduced reforms such as rapid railway customs clearances and paperless declarations of transit transportation, which has greatly improved the logistics efficiency of freight train customs clearance.