A train carrying 27 containers of chemical products recently departed from Southwest China's Chongqing and terminated in Bangkok, Thailand, after transit of Vientiane, Laos.
It was the first freight train service linking China, Laos and Thailand organized by Sinotrans Limited (Sinotrans), a subsidiary of China Merchants Group (CMG), and an overseas breakthrough in CMG's construction of the international railway transport channel.
The China-Laos Railway has played a key role in connecting the transport artery between China and ASEAN countries since it opened for traffic in December 2021, pushing forward a new pattern of large-scale regional logistics, markets and opening-up.
So far, more than 360 China-Laos cross-border freight train runs have occurred in 13 provincial regions in China and more than half of the freight has been exported to Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam by transiting from Laos.
Previously, cross-border transit mainly relied on highway transport, which took a long time for custom clearance and had high costs when passing international road ports with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opening of the China-Laos-Thailand continuous freight train service is expected to improve cross-border transit efficiency.
Sinotrans will continue to promote regular operation of the China-Laos-Thailand international freight trains, speed up construction of cross-border distribution centers in Laos, Thailand and other countries and regions, and contribute to building new international land-sea trade channels to support high-quality development of Belt and Road Initiative.
(Executive editor: Niu Yilin)
