Photo: web

A China-Europe freight train with reefer containers on Wednesday departed from Xiamen, East China’s Fujian Province and headed for Moscow, Russia. The train marks the first international cold-chain freight train departing from Fujian.

The train loaded with 906 tons of frozen squid slices, okra among other seafood, vegetables and fruits will leave China from Chinese border city Manzhouli and arrive in Moscow in 15 days, China News Agency reported.

The freight train is equipped with leading reefer containers which are equipped with generator refrigeration group with a standard diesel fuel tank. The location of the containers can be tracked by satellite navigation and real-time temperature and humidity in containers can be monitored online at any time.

Under the help of advanced technology, the reefer container train can keep the temperature low in the whole process of transportation from the factory to buyers’ warehouse, to maximize quality and freshness, said an official from China Railway Nanchang Group.

The official noted that the operation of the train can help deliver the seafood, vegetables and fruit from Fujian to overseas market in fastest and most efficient way and that rail authorities will actively promote the operation of such freight trains on China-Europe route, expand the breadth and depth of the reefer container logistics service network coverage, and meet the diversified transportation needs of customers.

The launch of the train also marks another positive example of optimizing trade exchanges and cooperation of agricultural products between China and Russia.

As of September 2022, Xiamen has seen 31,070 standard containers delivered through China-Russia route along the China-Europe railway with a value of nearly 7 billion yuan ($967 million), according to Xiamen Free Trade Zone.

China's trade with Russia has surged 31.4 percent year-on-year from January to August to $117.2 billion in the dollar terms, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed. China's imports from Russia surged by 50.7 percent to reach $72.95 billion during the period.

Global Times