Next stop Belarus: China gets rolling on direct Shenzhen-Minsk freight rail link
New route bolsters Beijing’s plan to revive trade along the Silk Road
Services got rolling on Monday morning on a new 9,900km railway cargo route linking the Shenzhen port of Yantian with the Belarus capital of Minsk, adding another trade line to China’s planned economic corridor through Eurasia.
A train with 41 containers, packed with Chinese products from mobile phones to car parts, is expected to take two weeks to reach Minsk via Central Asia.
Chinese cities are jockeying to launch “direct cargo trains” to Europe to support President Xi Jinping’s ambitious new Silk Road trade plan known as the “Belt and Road Initiative”.
The inland city of Chongqing now has a regular rail cargo service to Duisburg in Germany, and the export hub of Yiwu in eastern China has similar services to London and Madrid.
According to state-owned rail operator China Railway, 29 Chinese cities, including Shenzhen, have launched direct freight lines to Europe, although most routes are along the same track.
Zhang Chunhua, chairman of industrial supplier China Brilliant Group, is a key backer of the Shenzhen-Minsk freight link.