A China-Europe freight train prepares to depart from Wujiashan railway container center station in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, May 9, 2020. A China-Europe freight train carrying anti-epidemic supplies on Saturday left Wuhan, once hit hard by COVID-19, heading for Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The train departed Wujiashan railway container center station at 10 a.m., loaded with 294.42 tonnes of anti-epidemic supplies such as masks, protective suits, goggles and medical devices, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. Photo: Xinhua

 The number of China-Europe freight trains reaches a record high of 1,169 in June, despite disruptions in global logistics and trade since the outbreak of COVID-19.

The regular and stable operation of China-Europe freight trains amid the coronavirus outbreak has created a new artery of international transport, said Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

The number of China-Europe freight trains rose 36 percent year-on-year to 5,122 in the first half year, China Railway said.

Khorgos port in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region alone saw 2,000 China-Europe freight trains, with trade volume up 48 percent year-on-year.

"China-Europe cargo trains have promoted cross-border flows of goods and services, as well as the resumption of work and production, and also reduced the impact of the epidemic on China-Europe industrial and supply-chain cooperation," said Hua.

Data showed that these cargo trains contributed to the fight against COVID-19 in Europe, as 27,000 tons of supplies for pandemic control were transported in the first half of the year, up 41 percent on a yearly basis.

The General Administration of Customs on Tuesday said that in the first half of the year, China's textile exports, including masks, rose 32.4 percent, while exports of medical materials rose 23.6 percent and those of medicines increased 46.4 percent.

The goods were shipped directly to countries including Italy, Germany, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands and Lithuania, and then distributed to many other European countries, which "efficiently promoted the cooperation of countries to combat the disease," according to Hua.

Hua said these trains are an important result of the Belt and Road Initiative, and China will work with all parties to improve the capacity and efficiency of freight trains and expand international logistical cooperation.

"China's industrial production improved fairly quickly, with positive growth in April and May. The supply side of industry and investment recovered rapidly from the impact of COVID-19, enabling China to produce supplies and operate China-Europe cargo trains normally," Chen Tao, senior analyst of Analysys, told the Global Times.