Feb. 24 (Hunan Daily) (Omnimedia reporter: Zhao Zhigao) During the Spring Festival, the China-Laos freight trains loaded with 50 TEUs of tapioca imported from Muang Xay, Laos arrived at Huaihua International Land Port. Once unloaded, the goods were distributed by 10 or so transport vehicles all over the country. According to Lei Mingxiong, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Huaihua International Land Port Development Co., Ltd., in January this year, Huaihua International Land Port operated 55 ASEAN international trains and sea-rail intermodal trains that carried 60,000 tons of goods, a year-on-year increase of 100.8% and 55.4%, respectively.
Huaihua is the only important node city and the only ASEAN freight assembly center in Hunan Province to have been included in the development strategy of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Huaihua International Land Port is a landmark project for Hunan to integrate into the promotion of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative. Taking the development of Huaihua International Land Port as an opportunity, the city has worked to develop major channels, build big platforms and facilitate extensive exchanges. It has actively developed a new model of opening up that “relies on the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the Great International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, connects the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean and serves the domestic and international economic flows”. In 2023, Huaihua’s import and export volume crossed the RMB10 million mark for the first time, achieving a year-on-year increase of 121.6% and ranking first in the province for 19 months straight in terms of growth rate.
By leveraging its role of a node city and its logistics platform, Huaihua has successively opened four major channels for international logistics, namely the Beibu Gulf major channel for sea-rail intermodal transport and the China-Laos, China-Vietnam and China-Myanmar railways, maintaining smooth internal connection and external connection to 86 countries and regions including ASEAN, Europe and the US. 70% of goods from the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor were transported southward to ASEAN by way of Huaihua. In 2023, the city operated 455 trains, a year-on-year increase of 201.3%. It ranked first in central China and led the country in terms of the number of trains running on the China-Laos Railway.
Huaihua has worked to promote the integrated development of port, industry and city, so as to enhance the comprehensive carrying capacity of Huaihua International Land Port; it has implemented and issued various foreign trade policies to encourage and support foreign trade enterprises to increase orders and expand market; it has held the First Hunan (Huaihua) RCEP Economic and Trade Expo and thereby become an important platform and window for Hunan Province to integrate into RCEP; it has also sought close economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN and Africa and maintained trade contacts with 191 countries across the globe. In 2023, there were 87 enterprises in Huaihua that engaged in foreign trade, a year-on-year increase of 87, and the foreign capital used increased by 422.5%.
“In the past, enterprises faced numerous processes, complicated procedures and high costs in goods transfer. Now, everything is convenient and efficient.” According to Lei Huaying, head of Mayang Lanfenghuang Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., the company saw rapid development in its foreign trade business thanks to Huaihua International Land Port and Huaihua Customs. Since August 2023, the company has exported sweet oranges and other agricultural and sideline products worth RMB350 million.
Huaihua will expand opening up and expedite development. According to Xu Zhongjian, Secretary of the Huaihua Municipal Party Committee, Huaihua will give full play to its international land port to facilitate high-level opening up and high-quality development and vigorously develop the port industry. By 2026, it will strive to increase the annual cargo throughput of the land port to 10 million tons, operate more than 1,000 trains and bring the scale of port industry to above RMB100 billion.
(Translated by Yu Jie)