On the morning of March 29, a train fully loaded with auto parts departed from Zhuzhou towards Nansha Port in Guangzhou where the goods will be shipped to Europe. This was the first Zhuzhou-Europe special train for auto parts transport based on the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa sea-rail intermodal transport service.

Hunan's automobile industry booms in recent years and has grown into one of the pillar sectors, together with construction machinery, electronic information, and new materials. The Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan region becomes a core area of the automobile industry. The BAIC Motor Zhuzhou Branch was founded at the Zhuzhou High-tech Development Zone in 2009, with an annual production capacity of 200,000 complete cars and 200,000 engines. The Geely Auto Xiangtan production base was expanded in 2018, and since then it has a capacity of producing more than 300,000 vehicles annually. The BYD Auto Changsha Branch was capable of rolling off 300,000 cars in its first phase which increased to 600,000 in 2022.

In 2022, the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa sea-rail intermodal transport service highlighted automobile industry, and developed multimodal transport of auto parts in containers. Relying on the ship route advantages of Nansha Port, the Hunan-Nansha Port-Port Kelang intermodal freight transport has realized regular operation. About 3,000 fully-loaded TEUs were transported by 36 trains.

This year, the operator of the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa intermodal transport service has increased exchanges with and visits to Hunan-based automobile manufacturers, and dovetailed with Hunan's leading automobile enterprises. The Zhuzhou-Europe rail-sea intermodal freight route was developed, with the BAIC Motor and the Geely Auto as the first clients. It is estimated that this route will have an additional capacity of over 100 freight trains this year. 

In the first quarter of this year, a total of 8,670 fully-loaded TEUs had been transported by 106 freight trains through the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa intermodal transport route. It is estimated that 400 freight trains with fully-loaded containers will be operated this year.

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

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn