Trade corridor boosts RCEP regional economic integration

Two-way fruit shipments see blossoming growth on sea route

NANNING — Cargo ships carrying 18 tons of Orah mandarin oranges departed from Qinzhou Port, a part of Beibu Gulf Port in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in late March, marking the very first batch of the sweet fruit exported via this sea route.

With the support of cold chain logistics, the local delicacy of Nanning, capital of Guangxi, is expected to reach Thailand in about eight days.

China's fruit exports have grown sharply with the development of such cold chain logistics. Since the beginning of this year, Beibu Gulf Port has shipped about 2,850 twenty-foot equivalent units of freezers, including 500 TEUs of fresh fruit, said He Jian, project manager of a logistics company at the port.

"There are various transport means for Thai durian to enter the Chinese market. The increasingly convenient transportation and logistics network allows more ASEAN commodities to enter China and share market opportunities," said Nisachol Thaithong, a Thai trader.

Thanks to the constant construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a trade and logistics passage jointly built by provincial-level regions in inland China and ASEAN members, Beibu Gulf Port plays a pivotal role in providing maritime transportation with large transport volumes and lower costs, efficiently helping meet consumption needs.

Huang Jiangnan, head of a railway station at the port, said that more varieties of China's specialties, including goji berry products from the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, nuts from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and tea from Guizhou province, have been exported using the corridor's rail-sea intermodal services over the years.

Once little-known, the local signature products have become new driving engines of China's foreign trade growth in the region, especially after the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership took effect on Jan 1, 2022.