What’s on the other side of the mountain?
Huaihua, with its mountains towering, is blocked by mountains as far as the eyes can see, and the other side of the mountains are still mountains.
Huaihua is seizing every chance to open the door of the mountain to the ocean to pursue its dreams, for the other side of the mountain is an infinitely wild sea.
The distance between the mountains and the seas could be far or close. In recent years, Huaihua has made full use of the advantageous transportation and policies, actively integrated into the major strategies of the country and province, deeply implemented the strategy of “five new missions and four orientations”, made efforts to build an International Land Port, expanded the channel connecting the mountains and the sea, striving to build a new highland for reform and opening up inland areas. The inland mountainous city which is not along the border nor by the sea is opening up a sea route.
Like the height of mountains and the torrent of seas, Huaihua City is speeding up its development as ever.
For the wind may come from the Beibu Gulf, the International Land Port come into existence.
(Scene of the first Hunan(Huaihua) RCEP Economic and Trade Expo, Photo by Panyu/ Huaihua Daily)
Boxes of containerized goods are ready to be shipped, the construction of a smart cold chain digital logistics center is accelerating, and the construction of the ASEAN Industrial Park West Zone project is booming...In early summer, the gradually warming climate and the busy production scene of Huaihua International Land Port constitute a passionate and enterprising picture.
The distant sea breeze blows into the mountainous city, which brings people to wonder why Huaihua City is an International Land Port?
(Huaihua International Land Port seated on the banks of the Wushui River, photo by Panyu/Huaihua Daily)
Privileged Location As the “west gate” of Hunan, Huaihua is the “bridgehead” of the central region to the southwest, and is an important node city of the national “Belt and Road”, connecting Europe and Asia in the north and ASEAN in the south, and is also the most adjacent city to ASEAN in the central region.
Accessible Transportation Huaihua is a “national comprehensive transportation hub-city”, with three high-speed railways and three general railways intertwined in the shape of snowflake. Huaihua railway grouping station is the second largest grouping station in Hunan province, the only high speed railway hub city in the country that is not a provincial capital city, but the first in the province in terms of highway mileage.
(construction site of International Land Port smart cold chain digital logistics center, photo by Panyu/Huaihua Daily)
Gifted Opportunity In the context of the national “Belt and Road” strategy, the new western land and sea channel connects western China with the rest of the world. In 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Master Plan for Western Land and Sea New Channel, positioning Huaihua as an important node city on the main channel of “Chongqing-Huaihua-Liuzhou-Beibu Gulf”, and currently the only important node city in Hunan and in the new western land and sea channel. “The 14th five-year plan” Implementation Plan for the High-Quality Construction of the New Western Land and Sea Channel proposed “further improvement of the east access from Chongqing via Huaihua, Liuzhou to the estuary of Beibu Gulf”.
Grasping the national strategic opportunities and according to Huaihua’s location and transportation advantages, Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Government have endowed Huaihua with a new positioning and mission of “building a strategic gateway city for the new western land and sea channel”. The Department of Commerce has positioned Huaihua as the only ASEAN cargo consolidation center among the five international cargo centers in Hunan Province.
The people of Huaihua responded to the call of the national strategy and the “love” of the provincial party committee and the provincial government with their practical work.
On September 13, 2021, the construction of Huaihua International Land Port was officially started, and the construction of the basic functions of the land port was completed in just 3 months, achieving a historic breakthrough from “0” to “1”.
As a result, Huaihua has become another “gateway” to the world for Hunan and even the central region through the multi-modal transportation including Sea-Railway, Railway-Railway and Railway-Highway combined transport, closely connecting Beibu Gulf Port, Guangzhou Port, Mohan Port on the border between China and Laos to ASEAN countries.
As the tide surges in Wuxi River, the dream of opening up takes advantage of the momentum.
(signing scene of the First Hunan(Huaihua) RCEP Economic and Trade Expo, photo by Panyu/Huaihua Daily)
The name of Huaihua was first seen in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), taking the meaning of “huai rou gui hua” (Use political means to enlist other nations or countries to their side).
Up to now, the name of “Huaihua” implies a contemporary connotation—embrace the world and dissolve the distances of mountains and seas.
As the port serves the city, the 3rd Meeting of the 6th Session of the CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee made a decision to speed up the construction of Huaihua International Land Port with all-round efforts of the city, aiming at the goal of “shaping in two years and becoming a trend in three years”, so as to make Huaihua International Land Port a strategic platform for deep docking with RCEP and ASEAN, an important engine for high-quality development in the Wuling Mountain area, and a landmark project for reform and opening up of inland areas.
Unfolding the scroll of time, the city’s dreams and pursuits of the sea route vividly appear in front of the eyes.
On February 5, 2021, the first Sea-Railway combined train “Huaihua-Beibu Gulf Port” set sail with a siren, making Huaihua the first city in the province to launch an Sea-Railway combined train.
On January 6, 2022, the first Sino-Lao international freight train in the central region departed from Huaihua.
On April 12, 2022, The “Vientiane-Huaihua” international freight train of China Laos Railway successfully arrived at Huaihua International Land Port. Huaihua became the first city in the central region to achieve two-way operation of China Laos trains.
On July 2, 2022, the first Sino-Vietnamese train (Huaihua-Hanoi) from the ASEAN Freight Gathering Center in Hunan Province made its debut at Huaihua International Land Port, and a new route was opened for the western land sea new channel.
On July 7, 2022, the China-Vietnam Railway International Cold Chain Test Train successfully arrived in Huaihua, marking Huaihua the first city in central China to achieve the operation of cold chain international trains.
(Huaihua International Land Port, photo by Panyu/ Huaihua Daily)
At present, along the western land sea new channel, Huaihua has successively opened three international logistics channels facing ASEAN, namely the Beibu Gulf rail sea intermodal transportation, China-Laos, and China-Vietnam.
In 2022, Huaihua International Land Port ran 151 trains throughout the year. With the joint efforts of the whole city, the top-level design of Huaihua International Land Port has been basically improved, the operation of train services has begun to take shape, the regional influence has gradually formed, the functions of the port area have been continuously improved, and the development of the port industry remains good.
In the new era of Huaihua, every step towards the sea implies the step forward to the world.
On April 17th, the unveiling ceremony of the Land Port of Guangzhou stationed in Huaihua and the inaugural ceremony of the Huaihua Nansha Port luggage export train were held. It marks that Huaihua International Land Port has joined hands with Guangzhou Port and opened up the sea passage connecting Europe.
Since the beginning of this year, the development momentum of Huaihua International Land Port has been great. Up to May 12th, the number of international trains operating this year has reached 160, exceeding the total number for the entire year last year. Huaihua has initially formed an ASEAN freight hub led by Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces, as well as an open pattern of “serving the whole country, connecting with ASEAN, and connecting businesses to the world”.
Double services for long-lasting prosperity
(the newly completed gate of Huaihua International Land Port, photo by Pan Yu, a full media reporter from Huaihua Daily)
The sea-oriented strategy is a courage to explore, with an open mind and an accessible dream.
There were 113 signed projects with a total investment of 75 billion yuan. More than 600 well-known Chinese and foreign enterprises and over 1,000 buyers participated in the exhibition, attracting 370,000 people to attend. The on-site transaction volume exceeded 120 million yuan, and the contract procurement amount was about 810 million yuan. From May 4th to 7th, the first Hunan (Huaihua) RCEP Economic and Trade Expo was successfully held in Huaihua.
Open up and embrace the world This is the first large-scale international and comprehensive conference and exhibition in the history of Huaihua, building a new platform for docking RCEP economic and trade cooperation throughout the province and even the country. It is conducive to better promoting Huaihua and even Hunan to coordinate the international and domestic “two markets” and “two resources”, actively integrating into the domestic and international dual circulation, and accelerating the construction of a highland for reform and opening up in inland areas.
Since 2021, the Huaihua Municipal Party Committee and Municipal People’s Government have actively seized opportunities, accelerated the construction of Huaihua International Land Port, created an important channel to connect with RCEP, carried out a series of economic and trade cooperation and exchanges, and deeply integrated into the RCEP “circle of friends”.
(On February 5, 2021, the first rail sea intermodal train from Huaihua to Beibu Gulf set sail with the whistle)
Huaihua has successfully held international economic and trade activities such as the first RCEP Open Cooperation (Huaihua) Forum, China (Huaihua) ASEAN Green Agricultural Products Matchmaking Conference, and China (Huaihua) RCEP Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Matchmaking Conference, thus becoming a permanent venue for RCEP (Hunan) Economic and Trade Expo and ASEAN (Hunan) International Commodity and Service Fair.
Aiming to build the largest cassava trading center and the largest cassava industry base in China, Huaihua strengthens cooperation with countries such as Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam in all aspects of cassava cultivation, processing, warehousing, and sales. At the same time, it accelerates the development of hub preference industries, such as grain and oil, spices, and rubber, forming an industrial chain cluster of “ASEAN resources Huaihua manufacturing RCEP market”.
Welcome in and out Represented by Hunan Jinshuo Import and Export Trading Co., Ltd., Hunan Zhantong Communication Technology Co., Ltd., Huaihua Yaxin Electronics Co., Ltd., Hunan Hengguang Technology Co., Ltd., Hunan Xiangtong Industrial Co., Ltd., a group of enterprises in Huaihua have entered ASEAN for investment and development, deepening international trade cooperation.
Relying on Huaihua International Land Port, it takes the “express train” of the new land and sea channel in the west to effectively promote the take-off of open economy in Huaihua. In 2022, the total import and export volume of Huaihua’s foreign trade increased by 135.6% year-on-year, ranking first in Hunan Province. In the first quarter of this year, the total import and export volume of Huaihua increased by 374.5% year-on-year, ranking first in Hunan Province.
(the intersection of the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed train and the Jiaoliu Pu high-speed freight train at the Huaihua International Land Port, photo by Pan Yu, a full media reporter from Huaihua Daily)
The linkage between land and sea, as well as the symphony of mountains and seas, has become a unique melody in the journey of high-level opening up and high-quality development in Huaihua.
Huaihua is making joint efforts in the economic development, out of the mountains and heading towards the sea, directly connecting with ASEAN and the rest of the world. It is expected that by 2026, the annual freight throughput of Huaihua International Land Port will reach 10 million tons with over 500 trains operating, and the port industry will leap to the level of billions.
(Translated by Tian Xia)