The Huaihua International Land Port kicks off a new year with a strong start：China-Laos freight train heads for ASEAN fully loaded with 'made in China' products
It was at 3 a.m. February 17 of 2026. While the darkness still lingered and the chill remained, the Huaihua West Freight Yard was already ablaze with light and bustling with activity. Amid a piercing whistle, a China-Laos Spring Festival scheduled freight train—loaded with 66 TEUs, totaling 780 metric tons, and carrying goods worth approximately 3 million yuan—slowly lumbered to life and set off for Vientiane, the Laotian capital. At this moment, while China remains immersed in the festive atmosphere of the Chinese Lunar New Year of Horse, the departure of this train not only delivers a "New Year's gift" from China to ASEAN nations, but also marks a strong start to the 2026 international freight train operations of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor Operation (Hunan) Company, setting the stage for a new chapter of high-quality development in the year ahead.
The cargo composition of this train features an optimized structure and high added value, fully reflecting the deepening and upgrading of economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN. Among the shipment, photovoltaic components from Jiangsu province stand out as the main cargo, destined for solar power projects being rapidly advanced in Laos and neighboring countries. This represents a vivid example of green energy cooperation, supporting ASEAN nations in their pursuit of energy transition and sustainable development goals. Furthermore, the train carries a diverse range of goods including ammonium sulphate fertilizer, essential for agricultural production, and composite flooring, widely used in the construction and decoration sector. This carefully curated mix precisely caters to the multifaceted demands of the ASEAN market across areas like agriculture and infrastructure, demonstrating an organic synergy between manufactured industrial goods and essential production materials.
Since its inauguration, the China-Laos Railway has evolved into a vital land corridor bridging China and Southeast Asia. Seizing this strategic opportunity, Huaihua City has leveraged its geographic and logistical advantages to transform the "Huaihua West–Vientiane South" train service into a "bridgehead" for Hunan Province and even the broader central China region to connect with ASEAN, as well as a "golden channel" for international logistics. Through continuous efforts to streamline transport organization, enhance customs clearance efficiency, and strengthen multimodal transport connections, the train service now operates regularly and at high frequency. With significantly improved transit times and steadily decreasing logistics costs, it has attracted a substantial volume of cargo from Central, East, and South China to converge upon Huaihua, underscoring its increasingly prominent role as a logistics hub.
In 2025, the company achieved a remarkable milestone, with the annual number of international freight train trips surpassing 1,200. This vibrant logistics artery, spanning mountains and seas, not only transports Hunan's specialty products—such as construction machinery and Huaihua rice noodles—to Southeast Asian markets, but also brings high-quality ASEAN agricultural products, including tropical fruits and cassava flour, into countless homes across China. It has truly enabled a two-way flow of goods for mutual benefit. The China-Laos train service has evolved from a mere cargo carrier into a beacon of regional coordination, industrial linkage, and people-to-people connectivity.
The year 2026 marks a pivotal period for advancing the high-quality development of the new International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Building on this strong start at the very beginning, the company will further expand the train service's reach, increase frequency, optimize services, and solidify Huaihua's functional role as a national-level logistics hub. Concurrently, the company will actively align with the Belt and Road Initiative, deepening cooperation in logistics, trade, and industry with ASEAN nations. This will provide more robust, efficient, and stable international logistics support for enterprises in Central China to "go global," thereby playing a greater role in fostering the new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other.
(Translated by Feng Tao)