Terminal in Xi'an helps boost cooperation

Since Kazakhstan Xi'an Terminal began operating in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, in late February, over 35,000 metric tons of various goods have been transported from the city to Kazakhstan.

Located at the Xi'an Chanba International Port Park, the terminal was jointly constructed by the Xi'an Free Trade Port Construction and Operation Co and the KTZ (Kazakhstan's railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy) Express Co. The development agreement was hailed as one of the most important cooperative achievements of the first China-Central Asia Summit, which was held in Xi'an in May last year.

Construction began on the terminal, which covers about 7 hectares, on May 18, 2023.

Equipped with warehouses and container storage areas, it is connected to the container handling area of the Xi'an Chanba International Port Park, which makes it an ideal site for the rapid pick-up and delivery of containers. It also provides added supply chain financial services, further reducing trade costs between China and Kazakhstan.

"The terminal can help facilitate the rapid distribution and allocation of goods for import and export between China and Kazakhstan, forming a commercial and trade logistics distribution center for Kazakhstan in China," said Xie Tian, general manager of China-Kazakhstan (Xi'an) Commercial and Trade Logistics Co, which operates the terminal.

"On Oct 27, cooperation between the two nations was upgraded with the initiation of the construction of the China-Kazakhstan Logistics Terminal project in Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan," Xie said.

"After its completion, it will further promote deeper, broader and more win-win cooperation between China and Kazakhstan," he added.

Leveraging the strong momentum of the summit and harnessing its enormous dividends to deepen connectivity, the Xi'an Chanba International Port Park has established an efficient hub-to-hub logistics channel with an aim to inject vigorous energy into economic and trade cooperation between Shaanxi and Central Asian countries.

At the Xi'an branch of Beijing Neo-Safetrans International Co in the park, Li Jie, who works for the company's railway operations department, uses the Chang'an Number Digital Comprehensive Service Platform online to schedule trains to travel to Almaty.

"On the platform, we can easily see the departure time of the Chang'an China-Europe freight trains and the status of slot reservations. Furthermore, through the platform, we can promptly obtain information regarding overseas operations, providing great convenience for our company in data entry at the front end and coordination with the KTZ Express," she added. "More and more customers chose the Chang'an for its stable departure times and fast transportation efficiency," she added.

Since last year, the company has explored a cooperative model for transporting complete sets of new energy vehicles and photovoltaic components from Xi'an to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which has greatly expanded the variety of goods being transported by the company, according to its general manager, Li Ye.

"Thanks to the convening of the China-Central Asia Summit and the stable and high-quality operation of the China-Europe railway express, our customer base has increased by around 20 percent and our freight volume by 30 percent," she said.

"Currently, the Xi'an-Almaty and Xi'an-Tashkent (in Uzbekistan) routes are the two largest in terms of freight volume. We are more confident that we can continue to deepen our presence in Central Asian countries."

Since the service was launched in November 2013, the Chang'an China-Europe freight train service, which links Xi'an with destinations in Central Asia and Europe, continues to reduce costs, improve efficiency and provide excellent services. According to data released by China Railway Group, the line recorded 1,047 outbound trips in the first three months, a year-on-year increase of 16.7 percent.