The first China-Myanmar New Corridor (Chongqing -- Lincang -- Myanmar) international railway freight train will depart from Yuzui Station of Chongqing Guoyuan Port on May 23. It will arrive in Mandalay, Myanmar by rail and rail combined transportation, saving about 20 days and reducing logistics costs by about 20 percent compared with the traditional route.

This is one of the latest developments in the construction of a new land-sea corridor in the west. Since the beginning of this year, despite the impact of COVID-19 and other complex and severe situations, the construction of new land-sea corridors in the western region has accelerated

April 21, the new land-sea corridor China-Laos Railway (Dunhuang, Gansu -- Vientiane -- Bangkok) was launched; On April 2, the china-Myanmar-India (Chongqing -- Yangon -- Indian Ocean) freight train under the new land-sea passage was launched. On March 26, the china-Vietnam freight train, a new land-sea corridor linking Chongqing Guoyuan Port and Hanoi, Vietnam, was launched.

"Since the beginning of this year, more than 20 freight trains have made their debut in the new Land-Sea corridor, and a number of new logistics routes have been expanded between Chongqing, Ningxia, Gansu, Hunan and Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and other ASEAN countries." West land sea new channel logistics and operation organization center director Liu Wei said.

The new Western Land-Sea Corridor is a new international land-sea trade corridor jointly built by western provinces and ASEAN countries. With Chongqing as the operation center and all western provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as the key nodes, it can reach nantong and other parts of the world by means of railway, sea and road, which takes much shorter time than going to sea through eastern regions.

"The channel started with just one route in 2017, but now it has expanded rapidly to 319 ports in 107 countries." From January to April, chongqing transported 37,000 TEUs worth 6.3 billion yuan via the new land-sea corridor, up 12% and 22.2% respectively year-on-year, Liu said.

Why is this new corridor so bright? The new land-Sea corridor is highly compatible with the opening-up and development needs of the western region and countries along the Belt and Road -- internally, it can solve the international logistics problems in the western region and help China accelerate the construction of a new development pattern; Externally, it will create new development opportunities for countries (regions) along the Belt and Road and maintain stability of global supply chains.

At the beginning of this year, a batch of Ningxia wolfberry raw pulp first took the land-Sea new channel rail-sea combined transport train, south to Guangxi Qinzhou port, and then successfully exported to Canada by sea, saving more than 30 days than the traditional river-sea combined transport line.

It is not just Ningxia wolfberry pulp that is "going out". In the Luhai New Channel International Consumer Center located in Jiefangbei Business District, Chongqing, there are featured commodities with the unified "Luhai Excellent Products" brand, including Gansu lily, Xinjiang nuts, Guangxi snail noodle, Guizhou tea, etc.

"Once 'hidden in boudoir unknown' characteristic products, along this fast new channel to the world, and is becoming a new growth point of local foreign trade." Luhai new channel operation Limited company chairman Wang Yupei said.

Relying on the new land-sea corridor, western enterprises can also integrate more deeply into the global industrial pattern. With the support of the new land-sea corridor, Chongqing Xiaokang Industry Group has invested us $150 million to set up a car manufacturing base in Indonesia. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the new land-sea corridor has provided a stable and efficient supply chain.

Zhang Xingyan, general manager of the Import and Export Company of the Group, calculated: "It takes more than 30 days to travel from Chongqing to Jakarta through the traditional river-sea combined transportation, while the new land-sea channel controls the logistics time within 20 days, improving transportation efficiency and reducing operating costs."

The new land-sea corridor also promotes the formation of a high-quality internal circulation system, which meets the requirements of building a unified national market. Coal from Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi will be transported to Chongqing and other places through the new land-sea channel to alleviate the power coal gap; Soda from Qinghai is transported to Guangxi to support the glass industry through the new land-sea channel; Glass from Guangxi is transported to Sichuan and Chongqing through the new land-sea channel to support the automobile industry...

While promoting the opening-up and development of the western region, the new land-sea routes will also create new development opportunities for countries (regions) along the routes.

Thanks to the new land-sea routes, special products from Southeast Asia, such as glutinous rice from Thailand, durian from Malaysia, basa fish from Vietnam and banana from Cambodia, can enter the Chinese market more quickly.

"It used to take at least 20 days for rice and other agricultural products from Laos to be transported to Chongqing, Sichuan and other places." Wu Yang, manager of Minsheng International Cargo Transportation Agency Co., LTD., which has long been engaged in china-Laos trade, said that goods can now travel from Laos to Chongqing in only four days by china-Laos freight trains under the new land-Sea channel.

On this basis, China is exploring with Cambodia to build an integrated banana supply chain of "transportation, trade and production" relying on the new land-sea channel. And Malaysia to promote the formation of a new land-sea corridor Malaysia supply chain resource center.

"In the future, western provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities will further consolidate their joint construction efforts, optimize transportation organization, improve infrastructure along the routes, consolidate hub systems, optimize business environment and expand the corridor economy." Liu wei said.