At the round table conference on the construction of ‘Chengdu-Europe + Chengdu-Japan and South Korea’ east sea-rail transport corridor held on August 25, representatives from Shandong port, Shanghai port and other coastal ports, along with Maersk, SITC and other shipping companies, as well as Japanese logistics foreign trade enterprises such as ITO Yokota, Yusen logistics and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., as well as Japanese government agencies in China, gathered together to discuss their own development plans on this international corridor.

Roundtable Conference on the construction of ‘Chengdu-Europe + Chengdu-Japan and South Korea ’east sea-rail transport corridor.( Sichuan Daily)

The industrial chains of China, Japan and South Korea are closely linked and their economic structures are highly complementary. According to data, China’s total trade with Japan and South Korea reached 599.44 billion US dollars in 2019. Sichuan had the import and export volume of 38.5 billion yuan and 32.1 billion yuan to Japan and South Korea respectively, about 10% of Sichuan’s total annual GDP. Japan and South Korea are also the main trade partners of the EU.

‘To go to Europe in the west, Mongolia and Russia in the north, ASEAN in the south, and Japan and South Korea in the East, and the intensive operation of sea rail intermodal transport in the East to open up of the whole of western region is to build a strategic corridor of land-sea intermodal transport between Asia, Chengdu and Europe.’ Liu Wendao, deputy secretary of the Qingbaijiang District said that the opening of the east sea-rail intermodal transport between Chengdu, Japan and South Korea has been intensified this year and the number of regular round-trip trains from Shanghai alone has increased to three times a week. From January to July, a total of 410 trains have been opened in Chengdu’s east corridor, realizing the normalization of 14 trains a week.

Chengdu International Railway Port (Sichuan Daily)

The construction of a land-sea intermodal transport corridor with Chengdu as the hub and connecting Japan, South Korea, Europe and ASEAN can promote the opening up and development of Western China, including Chengdu. The cost of ‘Chengdu-Europe + Chengdu-Japan and South Korea’ east sea-rail intermodal channel is very close to the whole sea transportation price. In terms of transportation efficiency, it saves about one-half of the total sea transportation efficiency.

‘To change the traditional mode of logistics transportation, new policies must be made accordingly. Medium and high-end products not only emphasize the mode and cost of transportation, but also pursue the timeliness and safety of transportation,’ said Zhou Junbo, general manager of Chengdu Port Investment Group, adding that Chengdu has begun to contact and negotiate with multinational logistics enterprises from Japan and South Korea.

Chengdu International Railway Port (Sichuan Daily)

‘In terms of import, the western region has a large demand for Japanese and Korean mechanical products such as automobiles and medical devices, electronic products and cosmetics; in terms of export, Japan and South Korea have a large demand for raw materials, chemicals, clothing and other products in the western region; in terms of international transit, LG, Samsung and other electronic and automobile machinery enterprises have a large demand for exporting to Central Asia, ASEAN and Europe,’Zhou Junbo said.

At present, the Chengdu Kunming railway will have an annual capacity of 100 million tons after the electrified double track is opened to traffic in 2021, which can connect China-Laos railway to Vientiane and the whole of Southeast Asia.

'In the future, enterprises from Europe, Southeast Asia and Japan and South Korea can transit in Chengdu through the west, north, south and east trains. Chengdu will become a cross hub connecting Europe, Russia, Mongolia, ASEAN and Japan and South Korea,' Zhou Junbo said.（By Edina Liang）