China-Europe land-sea fast transport route opens

BUDAPEST - The first two trains carrying Chinese cargo containers, launched by China COSCO Shipping Group, arrived in the Hungarian capital, the Economic and Commercial Counselor's Office of the Chinese Embassy in Hungary said Tuesday.

The shipments arrived here on Jan 29 and Feb 5, respectively, from the port of Piraeus, Greece, marking the official opening of the China-Europe land-sea fast intermodal transport route.

This took place after the acquisition of the Piraeus port by COSCO Group.

The goods transported by the two trains were mainly furniture, with the containers completing their routes from the Chinese Ningbo port by sea to Piraeus, and from port by rail to Budapest, in 26 days.

More than 20 containerized goods will return to Piraeus with the two trains.

The China-Europe land-sea fast intermodal transport route uses the same path as the planned China-Europe Land-Sea Express Route.

The latter was started in 2014 by China and three Central and Eastern European countries, who agreed to build a land-sea express passage way linking the Piraeus port and Hungary to speed-up transportation between China and Europe.

As a flagship project, the modernization of the Budapest-Belgrade railway is expected to achieve substantial progress this year.

The completion of the project will strongly support the China-Europe land-sea fast transport, promote Chinese goods, and enable a faster access to European markets, the Chinese Embassy said.