China-Europe train departs with 200,000 Singles Day parcels

A special freight train loaded with 200,000 parcels on Tuesday departed from the Alashankou Comprehensive Bonded Zone in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, destined for Europe from the Alashankou Port in China.

It is the first China-Europe Railway Express freight train to transport goods for European customers of this year's Singles Day shopping spree, which started on Nov 1, according to Xie Zhiyu, director of Alibaba's logistics arm Cainiao International Smart Logistics Network, Xinhua News reported on Wednesday.

The parcels, mainly comprising digital products, fitness equipment and daily necessities made in China, will arrive in Europe within 10 days, Xie said in the report, adding that then they will be transported to more than 20 European countries.

"Furthermore, there will be more than four million parcels transported to Europe through China-Europe Railway Express freight trains that start from Zhengzhou (of Henan province) and Yiwu (of Zhejiang province) during the shopping spree," he added.

In March, the Alashankou Comprehensive Bonded Zone and Cainiao Network launched a trial operation of transportation combined by railway and bus.

To improve the efficiency of customs clearance, export parcels are sent from Cainiao's warehouses across China to the Alashankou Comprehensive Bonded Zone and the containers filled with the parcels will directly depart to Europe via railway after the customs review and release of the electronic lists.

The Alashankou Port has gradually developed into a distribution center for cross-border e-commerce, attracting more than 500,000 domestic enterprises to choose this new mode, according to the Xinhua report.

"We will continue to build a channel and try to achieve the goal of 50 million orders of cross-border e-commerce business by the end of 2020," said Di Yongjiang, Party chief of Alashankou city, as quoted in the report.