Goods are being loaded onto trains at Wuxi West Station Logistics Park. [Photo provided to wuxi.gov.cn]
Located in Huishan District, Wuxi City, East China's Jiangsu Province, Wuxi West Station Logistics Park is a crucial multimodal transportation hub in the Yangtze River Delta region. With its excellent rail, road, and waterway transportation infrastructure, the logistics park currently serves as the pilot site and starting station for China-Europe freight trains in Wuxi.
In the first half of 2023, the logistics park shipped nearly 4,000 TEUs of goods, doubling the volume of both domestic and international cargo compared to the same period last year, said Wang Lei, manager of freight operations at Wuxi International Trail Freight Express Co Ltd.
The logistics park now offers regular China-Europe freight trains to Central Asia, sea-rail combined transport services to Shanghai’s Yangshan Port in East China, and transit services to Guangzhou International Port in South China, thus enhancing the railway freight network system for both domestic and international trade.
Additionally, the park has introduced two "import-return" routes connecting Russia and Central Asia to Wuxi, which not only enable a wider range of imported goods to be brought in, but also effectively reduce transportation costs.
Thanks to the upgrade of overseas customized rail routes and specialized sea-rail combined transport services, Wuxi enterprises are enjoying smoother foreign trade channels. For example, Leyou New Energy Materials Co Ltd, a joint venture focusing on new energy battery products, has already dispatched products overseas through the new railway connection to Poland.
According to Wang Jun, head of the International Transportation Department at Pantos Logistics, the designated logistics provider for Leyou, the company can save 15 percent in transportation costs and improve efficiency by 20 percent by using the China-Europe freight train,
At present, the construction of Wuxi International Railway Logistics Center in the park is underway and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.
After the completion of the project, the overall size of the railway freight yard will be three times its current size. In addition, the customs supervision work site will also achieve "zero waiting time" for cargo release and clearance in the customs supervision area.
The logistics center will play a crucial role in the development and growth of Huishan district, further contributing to Wuxi's endeavor to become an international supply chain hub node serving countries and regions along the Belt and Road.
