A centralized commencement ceremony of key projects is held at the Huaihua International Land Port Economic Development Zone. (Photo/Yang Zhiwei)

The Hunan Huaihua Economic Development Zone which was established in 1998 was officially renamed the Huaihua International Land Port Economic Development Zone on November 22, 2022. It is Hunan's first land port economic development zone, marking that Hunan's only ASEAN-oriented international freight hub would start the journey towards the goal of building a hub of reform and opening up in inland regions of China. It also showed Huaihua's in-depth integration into the Belt and Road Initiative, and its special status and missions in jointly building the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

Huaihua is located in the center of the border regions of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Guizhou, and Guangxi. It is a significant node on the Chongqing-Huaihua-Liuzhou-Beibu Gulf line, the eastern passage of China's New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and one of the national logistics hub cities. The construction of the Huaihua International Land Port started on September 13 last year, aiming to build an international logistics passage with rail transport first and road transport as a supporting approach, and linking southwestward to the outside world by sea.

So far, Huaihua has access to three important international logistics passages, namely, the "Huaihua – Beibu Gulf of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region/Zhanjiang Port of Guangdong Province" rail-sea combined transport channel, the "Huaihua–Mohan of Yunnan Province–Vientiane in Laos" section of the China-Laos Railway, and the "Huaihua–Pingxiang in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region–Hanoi in Vietnam" section of the China-Vietnam Railway. It is the only city in the central regions of China that operates two-way China-Laos and China-Vietnam freight train services. 

Huaihua has access to three important international logistics passages. (Photo/Yang Zhiwei)

The Huaihua International Land Port Economic Development Zone, covering 82.15 square kilometers, has more than 2,700 registered enterprises, over 11,000 self-employed businesses, and 32 professional wholesale markets. The annual transaction volume of goods reached 35 billion CNY, and the daily logistics throughput hit 100,000 tons. As of now, 124 freight trains have been operated through the Huaihua International Land Port, transporting 6,294 TEUs with 165,200 tons of goods, worth about 908 million CNY.

Hunan issued a guideline on thoroughly participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and supporting construction of the Huaihua International Land Port this September. As planned, by 2026, the cargo throughput of the Huaihua International Land Port will hit 10 million tons; 1,000 freight trains will be operated; and, the technological, industrial, and trade revenue will exceed 100 billion CNY. It will be built into a first-rate land port in the central and western regions of China and a leading operator of the China-ASEAN freight train service nationwide.

At the new name unveiling ceremony of the park, an array of key projects in Huaihua were launched. The projects cover various fields including land port supporting facilities, processing and manufacturing, and modern commerce and logistics, with a total investment of about 3.5 billion CNY. The stage goal of "taking shape in two years, becoming influential in three years, and setting a benchmark in five years" is to be fulfilled at an accelerated pace.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: chinanews