A consignment of 100 Japanese-manufactured commercial vehicles was recently unloaded at Yantai Port of Shandong Port Group (SPG), from where it will be sent onward to Central Asian countries by China-Europe freight trains.

Yantai Port launched Shandong's first Northeast Asia-Yantai-Central Asia intermodal train service for commercial vehicles in July 2021. To date, it has delivered 10,350 units in total, injecting strong momentum into the economic growth of Belt and Road countries, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership member countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries.

The sea-rail combined transportation model is estimated to have slashed transportation time by 50 percent, cutting off about 20 days of travel compared with seaborne transport.

As SPG's logistics base for commercial vehicles and a logistics hub for commercial vehicles in northern China, Yantai Port has prioritized specialized development. It has fully leveraged its role as a core node of the supply chain, made efforts to build a port-centered integrated supply chain service system, and steadfastly acted as a partner for the global auto supply and industrial chains.

In January, Yantai Port experienced a year-on-year growth of 16.3 percent in vehicle traffic. It is currently connected to more than 30 countries and regions, including the US East Coast, the US West Coast, South America, Mexico, East Africa, West Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, achieving connectivity with major commercial vehicle terminals worldwide. This has made Yantai Port a demonstration vehicle terminal in Shandong with the largest capacity, the greatest number of liner services and the most comprehensive transportation model.

Japanese-manufactured commercial vehicles unloaded at Yantai Port are about to be sent onward to Central Asian countries by China-Europe freight trains. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]