On Nov 26, a China-Europe freight train drew into the Chongqing Railway Port Center from Duisburg, Germany, marking the successful returning of mail services by the China Railway Express (CRE).
"Although all the packages are merely test samples, they have managed to pass through complex channel and port procedures and emerged," explained a Chongqing Customs officer. "Chongqing, as one of the five cities in China that offer international railway export services, has thus become the only city with import ones available."
In fact, such export services have already come to be normal. Since October 2017, China Post Group Corporation has had a total of 790,000 railway parcels—of about 240 tons in weight and $11.5 million in value—shipped by CRE (Chongqing).
The authority expects more returning mail tests to help Chongqing usher in a new normal of regular import freight trains. Just as the National Post Office puts it, "Chongqing has created a new mode for international mail transportation and made a remarkable contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as furthering communication between countries along the way."
The city's port logistics office implied that Chongqing is shooting for a promising role as the inland international logistics hub and open port while taking advantages not only from the railway post channel, the mail processing center and the overseas warehouses, but also from the cross-border e-commerce industry cluster, where collaborative development is necessary for platform opening, resource integrating, function expanding and information sharing.
John Edwards, the UK trade commissioner for China, praised Chongqing over its rise as a burgeoning center in intelligent manufacturing.