In the first half of this year, the CEIBS train delivered an excellent result.

According to the news released by China Railway Group, from January to June, the number of china-Europe freight trains increased significantly, reaching 5,122 in total, with a year-on-year increase of 36%. Among them, 1,169 trains were opened in June, which hit record highs in a single month.

In addition, the National Development and Reform Commission recently allocated 200 million yuan from the central budget to support the construction of the china-Europe Freight train assembly center demonstration project in five hub cities, namely Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi 'an and Urumqi.

In this context, combined with the operation data of the above five assembly centers in the first half of the year, the development of the China-Europe freight train is analyzed and studied, and it is believed that in the future, relevant resources of the China-Europe freight train will be concentrated in chengdu, Xi 'an, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Urumqi and other head cities. However, cities with distinctive features, such as Yiwu, will also get opportunities for development.

In China's logistics system, the market share of China-Europe freight trains is only about 1%. In the long run, the market pattern will not change fundamentally due to the impact of the epidemic. In the future, china-Europe freight trains still need to tap their potential in market development and international cooperation.

Xi 'an became the biggest dark horse

In the first half of 2020, 5,122 china-Europe freight trains were launched in China, of which zhengzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi 'an and Urumqi, the five cities listed by the National Development and Reform Commission as the concentration centers, had 4,03 trains in total, accounting for 78.15%.

At present, there are more than 50 cities operating China-Europe freight trains in China, and the above five cities concentrate most of the market resources and have the geographical advantage of railway passage, which is also the premise of building the domestic china-Europe freight train gathering centers.

Among them, Xi 'an is the biggest dark horse. In 2017, the china-Europe freight train "Chang 'an" has a total traffic volume of about 193 trains, which has been greatly increased to 1,235 trains in 2018 and 2,100 trains in 2019. In the first half of 2020, the freight volume has surpassed that of the whole year of 2018, reaching 1,667 trains. If the momentum continues in the second half of the year, it may become the first city in China with a traffic volume exceeding 3,000 trains.

Why did Xi 'an surpass Chongqing and Chengdu in just three years? Analysts from the 21st Century Economic Research Institute have conducted field investigations in Xi 'an and found that Xi 'an has three advantages in the development of China-Europe freight trains.

The first is the strong support from local governments. The china-china train service is regarded as an important driving force for xi 'an's opening-up and "One Belt And One Road" construction. Second, Xi 'an has a prominent geographical advantage. It is located in the geometric center of the Chinese mainland, and its average distance to major cities across the country and border ports of Alashankou and Horgos are shorter than other major cities of China-Europe freight train service. Third, Xi 'an has adopted various strategies in recent years to attract sources from other provinces to use Chang 'an for transportation. At present, the sources from 15 provinces in China are distributed and distributed in Xi 'an, and the sources from other provinces exceed 80%.

At present, Xi 'an is still speeding up the development of china-Europe freight train. Since July 1, Changan, a China-Europe freight train, has launched a "public freight train" that runs four shifts a day, which will not only increase the total number of trains in operation, but also increase its appeal to small and medium-sized shippers.

In the first half of the year, the number of trains running between Chengdu and Chongqing in China and Europe did not exceed 1,000. However, the two cities began to leap from quantity growth to quality growth, so they also maintained a leading position in a number of development data.

According to the 21st Century Economic Research Institute, chengdu and Chongqing, as the core cities of the "Chengdu-Chongqing double city Economic Circle", are included in the list of gathering centers this time. If they form a joint force, they can have more say in the market competition of the whole China-Europe freight train.

At present, the Port logistics Office of Chongqing Government is actively strengthening the work connection with the port logistics department of Sichuan Province. The two sides have reached more than 20 specific cooperation consensus in railway, public transport, water, air and port, etc., and are promoting cooperation in the connection of china-Europe freight train policies and resource sharing.

As of the end of June, 439 trains were running in Zhengzhou. However, according to the Implementation Plan of Zhengzhou's Opening up to the outside world released in April this year, Zhengzhou should initially establish itself as an international transportation hub by 2020. There will be 1,100 flights between China and Europe (Zhengzhou) each year, with local goods accounting for 18%. If this is the target, the number of zhengzhou in the first half of the year is less than half, which will also require the local to further develop the market in the second half of the year, give play to the advantages of international comprehensive transportation hub, to attract the assembly and transportation of goods from the province and other provinces.

In the first half of the year, urumqi had 47 trains running between China and Europe, the lowest among the five hubs. According to the 21st Century Economic Research Institute, Urumqi needs to solve the problem of where goods come from and play the role of the Silk Road Economic Belt's business and logistics center and transportation hub.

According to the central European trains (urumqi) collection center construction plan (2020-2024), plans to pushing for five years in xinjiang, efforts to build modern collection center, to build leading technology, advanced concept, management efficiency, coordinated operation of central trains international freight comprehensive service platform, improving the capacity of goods collection, promote industrial concentration.

For the development of local economy, the China-Europe freight train is a major driving force for the recovery of foreign trade economy. According to the data released by Zhengzhou Customs on July 16, the total value of henan's foreign trade in the first half of this year was 228.04 billion yuan, an increase of 7.7% over the same period last year, 10.9 percentage points higher than the overall national growth rate, ranking the 6th in the country.

Sichuan, Henan and other places pointed out that the growth of foreign trade economy in the first half of the year was closely related to the stable operation of china-Europe freight trains in the face of the epidemic, which enabled foreign trade enterprises in their provinces to continue to deliver orders to European customers.

Still need to improve market share

According to the 21st Century Economic Research Institute, the high-speed growth of china-Europe freight trains in the first half of 2020 is due to a certain contingency.

First, due to the outbreak of the epidemic, the capacity of shipping companies and airlines has been reduced passively. A large number of sea and air routes between China and Europe have been cancelled, and the stock capacity cannot meet the market demand. On this basis, the value of "stability, low price and high efficiency" that CEIBS has always adhered to has been "rediscovered" in the market.

Second, the uniqueness of railway freight makes it less affected by the epidemic. For example, the environment of cross-border railway freight is relatively isolated, and the crew members are less likely to be infected by the epidemic, which makes the China-Europe freight train an alternative solution for trade between China and Europe in unusual times.

In central Europe at the beginning of the trains operation, local governments often through subsidies in order to make its rapidly expanding market share, but the Treasury has asked related areas since 2018 gradually lowering the china-eu trains subsidies standards, to make the development of its is in conformity with market economy rule, such as the 2020 operating costs of local financial subsidies will be compressed to below 30%.

The strong demand for cross-border rail freight between China and Europe in the first half of the year has brought opportunities for these cities to get rid of their financial dependence. A city with a high load rate has more freight trains, which means it has more market resources, and is more likely to be the first to realize full marketization.

According to the 21st Century Economic Research Institute, under the background of constructing five gathering centers, relevant resources will tend to head cities such as Chengdu, Xi 'an, Chongqing, Zhengzhou and Urumqi. At present, more than 50 cities operate China-Europe freight trains. How these cities will enhance their competitiveness in the cross-border rail freight market will be an urgent problem to be solved.

In this respect, Yiwu shows the supporting effect of the comparative advantage of urban industry on the development of China-Europe freight train. Yiwu plays an important supply side role in the international small commodity industry chain, which makes the local has always maintained a relatively sufficient demand for cross-border freight. By the end of June 2020, Yixin Europe has opened 300 columns, which is one of the cities with a good opening volume except the five assembly centers.

The richness of the types of goods carried by the china-Europe freight train is a key indicator for further market development. At the same time, some new types of transport, including cold chain transport, cross-border postal and e-commerce services, have been tested effectively on the china-Europe freight train.

Some new technologies are also being used on the China-Europe train, including the Beidou satellite, which was successfully netted in June. The Beidou satellite will be deeply involved in the operation of the China-Europe freight train in the future, including real-time tracking and positioning of the whole logistics process, so as to improve the "intelligent" operation level of the china-Europe freight train.

For China-Europe freight trains, which did not have a prominent market share before, 2020 will be a key window period to expand customer base. However, it still needs to be recognized that in China's logistics system, the market share of China-Europe freight trains is only about 1%. In the future, china-Europe freight trains still need to explore their potential in market development and international cooperation.