A China-Europe cargo train loaded with 1,500 tonnes of timber from Belarus arrived at an international logistics center in the city of Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province on Wednesday.

The 46-carriage train is the first import China-Europe cargo train in Guangdong. It left Minsk, capital of Belarus, and entered China through the country's Manzhouli port on China's border with Russia. The whole journey totaled 11,884 km and took 28 days.

The imported timber will be used to make furniture.

The first export China-Europe cargo train from Guangdong left Dongguan in June 2016. In the past three years, the province has seen 16,600 export trains with 240,000 tonnes of cargo.

With the arrival of the first import train, Guangdong has the round-trip operation of China-Europe cargo train, which is conducive to balanced transportation, thus gradually changing the current situation of the imbalance between the import and export ratio of China-Europe trains in Guangdong, said Zou Chaohui, director with the Donguan logistics workshop of Guangzhou cargo center.

Yao Xiaoxiong, general manager of the Sinotrans Dongguan Logistics Co., Ltd., said China-Europe cargo trains will provide cold chain services in order to provide convenience for beef and mutton import.

So far, the company has invested 350 million yuan (48.9 million US dollars) to build a multimodal transport logistics base, which is expected to be put into use on August 30, according to Yao.