A multimodal service that transports containers from Central Asia to Indonesia was launched on 6 October.
A container was railed from Uzbekistan to Nansha, a sub-port of Guangzhou, for the first time and loaded onto a ship bound for Indonesia. The service launched the CIS-Guangzhou-Southeast Asia shipping route.
The service is another symbol of the Belt and Road initiative, of which the Maritime Silk Road forms the shipping aspect. Nansha has been designated as a hub port of the Maritime Silk Road, while Uzbekistan is the heart of the ancient Silk Route. The cargo comprised of 1,113 tonnes of potassium fertiliser that was transported for a price of US$128,000.
Guangzhou Port Group authorities said that Nansha can expand international logistics channels through a multimodal transportation combination that takes advantage of China Rail’s transcontinental trains, facilitating transitional logistics to countries and regions along the Belt and Road.
Meanwhile, Guangzhou Customs has enacted 15 regulations to promote air and sea freight between China and Europe. These regulations cover customs clearance, reduction of customs declaration costs and development of multimodal transportation services.
The plan is to facilitate customs clearance for cargoes arriving from the Commonwealth of Independent States within an hour, as the goods will be sent to Nansha’s free trade zone before being transferred to a ship.
Nansha is being developed as a hub for integrated transportation and logistics, with the construction of a large warehouse complex that includes six eight-storey buildings that can hold up to 500,000 tonnes of goods. The first phase of this complex will be ready in March 2021.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
